Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is calling it quits at the end of next year.
Brian Johnson at MassDevice examines the opportunity this offers enemies of the device tax.
Apparently there are rich people in Montana but no medical device manufacturers. Baucus couldn’t bring himself to tax high earners, but as he thought device makers would get a big boost from healthcare reform (think of all the new patients who can get new knees!), it was OK to tax them.
Baucus is chairman of the Senate finance panel and has promised to support the ACA for the rest of his term.
But here’s where it gets interesting: If Democrats retain control of the Senate (by no means a sure thing), the next in line for Baucus’ chairmanship is Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.); behind him sits Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). Both legislators have been supportive of repealing the medical device tax, voting in favor of a symbolic repeal last month.
According the MassDevice, AdvaMed lobbyist J.C. Scott doesn’t expect anything to change while Baucus is still in office, but he is optimistic about 2015.
Scott reiterated that the game plan for repealing the tax still involves rolling it into a corporate tax reform plan or another, broader package.
[Image from flickr user DonkeyHotey]
