Category: Healthcare reform

Obama presses healthcare reform case on the stump in Ohio

March 15, 2010 by MedCity News

By Mary Vanac

The Strongsville, Ohio, crowd warming up for a speech today by President Barack Obama knew what it wanted. Healthcare.

So did dozens of protesters who lined Royalton Road with colorful, waving signs. Most of them wanted the president of the United States to take his ideas for health insurance reform back to Washington.

There was an edge of urgency to the the Strongsville crowd, unlike the crowd at Shaker Heights High School that had warmly welcomed the president in July 2009, when he hosted a healthcare "Town Hall" meeting there. President Obama seemed to feel a heightened sense of urgency too.

$20 billion device tax lives on in new White House healthcare proposal

February 22, 2010 by MassDevice staff

It's déja vu all over again for medical device manufacturers that may have thought the election of Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts would kill the dreaded $20 billion medical device tax.

That's because President Barack Obama's legislative proposal for overhauling the healthcare system, released by the White House today, includes the very same 10-year, $20 billion tax on the medical device industry that was included in earlier healthcare reform bills.

MassMEDIC to Sen.-elect Brown: Put your money where your mouth was

January 22, 2010 by MassDevice staff

The Mass. Medical Device Industry Council is asking Sen.-elect Scott Brown to put his money where his mouth was during the campaign for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat on Capital Hill.

During his successful run against Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley, Brown visited Zoll Medical Corp.'s Chelmsford, Mass., headquarters, where he spoke about his opposition to a proposed tax on medical device makers to help pay for healthcare reform.

During the campaign stop at Zoll, the Republican then-candidate told MassDevice that he planned to vote against the healthcare reform bill if elected.

Grassley scrutinizes EMRs

January 21, 2010 by MassDevice staff

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is taking a close look at electronic medical records, asking EMR providers and their hospital customers about any problems they've had with the systems.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Grassley asked about 30 hospitals around the country for details on their experiences with EMRs, including "complications," "errors" and "problems." Last fall, Grassley dunned about 10 EMRT providers seeking similar information, the Journal reports.

Former Medtronic CEO George: Healthcare reform hinges on low-tech, local solutions

January 21, 2010 by MassDevice staff

Real healthcare reform won't come from high-tech innovation but rather from reforming Americans' eating and exercise habits, according to former Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) CEO Bill George.

George, who led the Minnesota medical device monolith from 1991 to 2001, told Minnesota Public Radio that taxing the medical device industry is "counter-productive" because it will stifle the development of innovative medical technologies.

Medical device tax to rise by $10 billion?

January 15, 2010 by MassDevice staff

A proposed tax on medical device manufacturers could be $10 billion more than previously planned, as lawmakers in the U.S. Senate strive to offset reductions to the tax on high-end healthcare plans demanded by labor unions.

Union contracts would be exempt from a tax on so-called "Cadillac" plans until 2018, according to the terms of a deal hammered out between the trade groups and Democratic legislators, the Wall Street Journal reported.