The powerful finance committee in the U.S. Senate is preparing to hold hearings on repealing the medical device tax, starting with the healthcare subcommittee chaired by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.).
Jay Khosla, policy director for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is chairman of the finance committee, wrote in an email that the panel hopes to start the hearings "in the near future."
"After more than 5 years since its inception, it is important for all of us to examine this bipartisan concern in a deliberate manner," Khosla wrote.
"An important bipartisan issue deserves this level of careful consideration and we look forward to advancing this in a productive manner," he wrote.
Khosla said a hearing of the full finance committee is expected to follow the healthcare subcommittee meeting on the tax, a 2.3% levy on all U.S. sales of prescribed medical devices. The tax was enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and went into effect in 2013.
There are 2 bills in the upper chamber that would repeal the medical device tax. Hatch is the sponsor of 1, S. 149 or the "Medical Device Access & Innovation Protection Act," which has 34 co-sponsors, including 5 Democrats.
Another bill sponsored by Sen. Ed Markey (D.-Mass) would also repeal the tax, but unlike Hatch’s bid would replace the lost revenues by closing loopholes for the energy industry. Markey’s S. 844, the "No Taxation on Device Innovation Act," has no co-sponsors.
In the U.S. House, longtime repeal champion Rep. Erik Paulsen’s (R-Minn.) H.R. 160, the "Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2015," has 277 co-sponsors, including 36 Democrats.
