FLASH: U.S. House votes to repeal medical device tax

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives today, joined by 46 Democrats, voted to repeal the medical device tax enacted as part of Obamacare, according to news reports.

Although the GOP-led Senate is also likely to approve the measure, the White House this week threatened a veto should it make it to President Barack Obama’s desk.

The House voted 280-140 to approve H.R. 160, the “Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2015,” sponsored by longtime medical device industry ally Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.).

“Only in Washington would you impose a tax on life-saving medical technology and think you will actually reduce healthcare costs,” Paulsen said today, according to the Hill.

The House Ways & Means Committee earlier this month approved the measure along sharply partisan lines, with 25 Republicans and a lone Democrat (Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.)) voting to pass H.R. 160 and an amendment from chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that would put the repeal into effect beginning the quarter after its passage into law. H.R. 160 has 241 co-sponsors, including 41 Democrats. The bill, sponsored by longtime medical device industry champion Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), is 1 of several repeal bids circulating on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is the sponsor of the Senate’s companion bill, S. 149 or the “Medical Device Access & Innovation Protection Act.” The measure has 36 co-sponsors, including 5 Democrats – Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Ben Casey of Pennsylvania, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken.

A pair of Democrat-led bills would also repeal the tax, but unlike the Hatch and Paulsen measures would replace the lost revenue by closing tax loopholes for the energy industry. A bill by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), S. 844 or the “No Taxation on Device Innovation Act,” has no co-sponsors. Its counterpart in the House, H.R. 1533 or the “Medical Device Tax Elimination Act” sponsored by Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), has 5 co-sponsors, all Democrats.

Repealing the tax also came up in a U.S. Senate subcommittee meeting in April, when the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare panel, led by Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) and ranking member Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), convened the hearing to consider the impact of the medical device tax.

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