Funding pact includes pause for medical device tax

The $1.6 trillion deal struck last night on Capitol Hill to fund the government includes a provision that would put a 2-year pause on Obamacare’s medical device tax.

The agreement, revealed by U.S. House leader Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) during a conference call last night with Republican leaders, delays the 2.3% revenue tax on U.S. sales of prescribed medical devices and also pushes the pause button on the so-called “Cadillac tax,” a 40% tax on high-benefit health insurance plans. The deal also would lift the ban on exports of U.S. crude oil that dates back to the 1970s.

Republicans reportedly told Democrats that they would only agree to the Cadillac tax moratorium, which put a big hit on labor unions, if the package included the medtech tax pause. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) told The Hill that the fight against the medical device tax “got a second wind” from the tax negotiations.

“I think they’re riding in the wake of the Cadillac tax,” Courtney said. “When they saw that Cadillac tax was really moving, they kind of jumped on that.”

Another provision would ban a bailout of the Obamacare “risk corridors” designed to help insurance companies that participate in government-run health exchanges. At least 1 insurance giant, UnitedHealth Group, is threatening to withdraw from the exchanges, calling its participation “a bad decision.”

Republicans are dead set against reviving the risk corridor program, calling it a sop to the health insurance industry, and included a provision touted by presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would bar the Obama administration from transferring funds into the risk corridor program, according to The Hill.

The post Funding pact includes pause for medical device tax appeared first on MassDevice.

from MassDevice http://ift.tt/1MgI34J