THE PACEMAKER TAX
... or is it really just an "assessment?"
The legislation does not work like a sales or excise tax. Rather, it follows the model of the punitive tobacco settlement imposed on cigarette companies in the '90s. It assesses an industry-wide payment that firms must make in proportion to their market share. It bars the them from passing along the cost of the assessment by charging more for certain basic products, but allows them to raise the price of others to raise the funds for the fee.
The result will be that virtually every piece of advanced surgical equipment will be subject to a price increase to meet the levy from Washington. No matter that these devices often make the difference between life and death and that, in effect, taxing them raises the cost of vital treatments. The vengeful White House will have its pound of flesh from the medical device industry for daring to be independent and to refuse to knuckle down to administration pressure.
Not a single dime! RIGHT!! And oh by the way, lab tests are considered a taxable device also.
Those who know me know that I have had 3 coronary artery stents (anything worth breaking is worth REALLY breaking!). My insurance, which is no different than yours, I'm sure, covered it without a fuss. When I tore the snot out of my knee, I needed repairative surgery with donor ligament and a goodly amount of PT before and afterwards. My insurance covered it without a fuss. I am on the uphill side of age 60, and I got no gripes from the insurance co. about my being too old for this sort of thing, that my "good years" were behind me, that a cane or crutch would be good enough for me, etc, etc. Compare how the gov't will treat the same situation..... from Rob't Reich. At least for me,this is NOT a tough question. Are there bugs in the current system? Definitely are! Does that mean we scrap the whole system and put government care in its place? I don't think so.
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