Schilling Supports Repeal of Health Care Tax
Votes to stop tax increase on Canton’s Cook Medical, other device manufacturers
Washington,
Jun 7 -
Washington, DC – Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) today joined 269 of his colleagues in passing H.R. 436, the Health Care Cost Reduction Act. This legislation repeals the health care reform law’s 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices and its prohibition on using flexible health spending accounts to pay for over-the-counter drugs, and also allows individuals to recoup unused contributions made to flexible health spending accounts. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has found that the excise tax on medical devices would be passed on to consumers, raising health care costs, and could discourage investment in developing new innovative devices.
“Last Friday, the American people received more bad news when the unemployment report said that unemployment rose to 8.2 percent and our economy added only 69,000 jobs in May,” Schilling said. “Good, high-paying jobs at companies like Canton’s Cook Medical will be impacted if Congress and the President don’t work together to repeal this tax. While efforts continue to repeal the health care law in its entirety and replace it with policies that actually address the rising cost of health care, it is important that we keep focused on repealing some of the most damaging pieces of the massive law – job-killing provisions like the 1099 tax reporting requirement and the medical device tax.”
“We are pleased that the U.S. House of Representatives has acted with a bipartisan vote to repeal the onerous device tax and hope that the U.S. Senate will quickly follow in a bipartisan manner. This tax will lead to U.S. technology and jobs being relocated outside the U.S., the loss of future jobs that come with innovations being located outside the U.S., and delays in the latest medical innovations being available to American patients. Americans want their critical devices manufactured in the U.S. and to have access to the latest medical technologies,” said Steve Ferguson, Chairman of Cook Group, Inc.
Beginning in 2013, the health care reform law institutes a 2.3 percent excise tax on the manufacture or import of medical devices – devices like those produced by Cook Medical in Canton, Illinois. Canton is a community in Illinois’ 17th Congressional District that would be harmed by the medical device tax. Cook Medical has 70 employees, and has aspirations to expand and increase its number of employees by 300 percent in its two Canton facilities by this time next year. The health care reform law’s medical device tax will not only raise health care costs and stifle research and development on innovative new medical devices at companies like Cook Medical, but could also destroy jobs in an industry that employs more than 400,000 Americans throughout the country – 70 in Canton alone.
Kevin Meade, the Mayor of Canton, last month wrote Speaker of the House John Boehner in opposition to the medical device tax and the impact it would have on his community. That letter can be seen by clicking here. Cook Medical joined a number of organizations, companies, and manufacturers in writing Congress to urge for the repeal of the medical device tax. That letter can be found by clicking here.
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