Devices & Diagnostics, Policy

With potential medical device tax repeal on horizon, Advamed pushes out targeted ad campaign

As shutdown wears on, Advamed continues its push to end the medical device excise tax […]

As shutdown wears on, Advamed continues its push to end the medical device excise tax through a targeted ad campaign that will run through Oct. 17 in the Beltway, placed in such media as Politico. (See right for one of the ads–note the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of the supporters.)

“First and foremost the most significant measure of success I believe are the number and variety of groups who’ve signed on to the ad,” Wanda Moebius, vice president of Advamed, said. “I think it shows the depth of support for repealing the device.”

According to  Orthopedics This Week:

The ad announcement came on the same day that The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch ran a story by Russ Britt saying the device tax was put in place in the first place because device makers had “soaring margins” in the decade prior to the passage of Obamacare.

Britt wrote that seven core medical-device makers on the S&P 500 at the end of 2009 had nearly tripled their net margins, to 14.3% on average from 5% in 1999. “Sales of the device makers more than tripled in that time frame, growing more than 264%. Meanwhile, earnings for the seven companies ballooned more than ten-fold, leaping to $6.3 billion from $585 million.”

However, whether it’s the work of the ad or no, last night 20 lawmakers sent a plea to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to use a device tax repeal as grounds for ending the government shutdown, according to Bloomberg–a compromise the editorial board at the Washington Post calls “full of holes.”

 

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