Dive Brief:
- The medical device industry is pushing to repeal ACA's medical device tax,which has been in effect for three years. AdvaMed, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, said member polling shows the tax has hurt R&D spending and curtailed hiring.
- The 2.3% tax was expected to raise $30 billion over ten years.
- Two recent industry studies from AdvaMed back the industry's repeal efforts. One, conducted by Avalere Health, concluded Medicare spending for the most technologically-advanced hospitals equaled the national rate for all other hospitals. The other study showed prices for medical devices have increased less than 1% from 1989 to 2013, compared to 4.5% for the "medical consumer price index."
Dive Insight:
Industry leaders remain optimistic because, according to Forbes, there are several measures scheduled to come before Congress over the next few months.
Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of AdvaMed, said at the group's recent annual meeting, "We need to finish the job and close the deal on device tax repeal. It's a good opportunity right now." However, as reported in Forbes, Senate Republican leader Mitch Mitchell's promises to repeal the device tax have not yet come to a vote.