MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Medical device tax repeal efforts have made friends across party lines and in both houses of Congress, but Senate Health Committee chairman Tom Harkin isn’t one of them.
In harsh comments made yesterday Harkin characterized the debate over the medical device tax as a fabricated controversy, saying that the industry can afford to pay its share to help fund healthcare reform, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
"That medical device tax issue is one of the phoniest issues I have seen in my years here," Harkin said. "It is absolutely, totally fraudulent and phony. That small amount of tax won’t hurt them one bit, and they make a lot of money on medical devices."
Harkin promised to fight any efforts to repeal the tax, MPR wrote. The sentiment is one long shared by the White House.
The Obama administration has on several occasions said that medical device tax repeal is a non-starter, maintaining that the levy represents the medtech industry’s fair burden in helping to fund healthcare reforms that will bring them more customers. The so-called "windfall" rhetoric has been a staple of the battle over the medical device tax, with proponents of the tax arguing that medtech companies will offset much of their costs through their new customers and the industry insisting that the newly insured aren’t the kind that end up needing medical devices.
The White House said for the 1st time this month that it would consider repeal of the levy, as long as lawmakers could come to terms on some means of making up for the lost revenue. The issue of a so-called "pay-for" to make up for the lost revenue the medical device tax is projected to generate has been a sticking point for many Democrats.
Bone marrow transplants may diminish sexual health
A newly published study connects bone marrow transplants with negative sexual side effects in both male and female patients. Researchers suggested that the complications may be a result of chronic
graft-versus-host disease.
Read more
Dana-Farber breaks ground on new imaging lab
Construction began this week on a new $15 million research imaging center, co-sponsored by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. The 50,000-square-foot center will house development efforts for molecular imaging systems for use in oncology.
Read more
A venture capital tipping point for digital health?
A panel of venture capitalists told an audience in Boston this week that frameworks and infrastructure are in place to facilitate an impending boom in digital health.
Read more
Device maker seeks crowd-funding for crotch climate control
Healthcare startup Epiditi is looking to raise $75,000 to support development of a heating and cooling device to help treat pain in the male genitalia.
Read more