GOP freshmen take aim at med device tax

Submitted by apoorboy on Thu, 2012-02-09 12:12

The medical device industry, unsurprisingly, really hates a 2.3 percent excise tax that's going into effect next year. Industry groups and companies have warned for months that if the tax should drop in January 2013, as planned, it could drive jobs overseas as firms scramble for ways to control costs.

On Monday, 75 freshmen congressional Republicans wrote a letter to House GOP leadership asking them to bring to the floor H.R. 436, the Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2011, which would repeal the tax. The bill, introduced in January 2011, is the brainchild of Rep. Erik Paulsen, a Republican who hails from Minnesota, a med tech hub and home to industry giants like St. Jude Medical and Medtronic. The bill currently has 228 cosponsors, all but a handful of whom are Republicans, according to GovTrack, and it's still working through committee.