Devices & Diagnostics, Policy

Two other legislative routes for medical device excise tax repeal if debt ceiling deal falls through

The medical device excise tax repeal is on the table as part of a government […]

The medical device excise tax repeal is on the table as part of a government shutdown deal, along with a delay of Obamacare. If this bill doesn’t go through as is (and it seems that it won’t), here are two other potential legislative routes that could be taken to get the device excise tax repealed.

In an August NASDAQ OMX webinar, two AdvaMed Government Affairs VPs discussed potential legislative routes to get the device tax repealed. Of course, a debt ceiling deal was one option, but JC Scott, senior executive vice president and director for government affairs, and Leah Kegler, vice president for government affairs, offered two other paths. (Color and commentary is mine.)

1. Pull the medical device excise tax from the healthcare reform/Obamacare conversation, drop it into tax reform debate. Obamacare is a word that incites frenzy and heated debate (not always, or even usually, debate that makes sense). By removing the device tax from the healthcare context and supplanting as part of tax reform, repeal might be more likely. However, serious tax reform discussion might not happen until next year. (If the pace of the government at work the last week is any indicator, that discussion definitely won’t happen until next year.)

2. Add it as a sidenote to a Medicare “doc fix” as part of a catchall package before year’s end. It’s a lot less glamorous than being front and center of a healthcare and budget debate, but this quieter strategy might be a realistic option for pushing the repeal through before 2014 starts.

And no matter how it’s repealed if it’s repealed, some other form of (yet unknown) revenue will need to fill its $30 billion Affordable Care Act  hole.

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