President Barack Obama is slated next month to make a visit to one of the medical device industry’s primary hubs in Minnesota, and medtech advocates are hoping to use the occasion to emphasize efforts to repeal a 2.3% sales tax that hit the industry last year.
U.S. House of Representatives
Health reform champion Rep. Waxman to retire
The Affordable Care Act is poised to lose one of its greatest House of Representatives allies with the retirement of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), announced this week.
Senate OKs $1T omnibus budget deal, restoring FDA user fees
The U.S. Senate yesterday approved an omnibus, $1.012 trillion budget bill that includes the restoration of some $85 million in user fees from medical device and pharmaceutical companies that was held in abeyance by sequestration.
President Barack Obama, who has until midnight tomorrow to sign the measure into law, is expected to quickly add his signature after the 72-26 vote in the Upper Chamber.
Rep. Charlie Dent’s jobs bill would repeal medtech tax
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is taking another swing at the medical device tax, including a repeal measure in a jobs bill that he plans to introduce this week.
Dent’s legislation would strike the medtech levy alongside measures to restore emergency unemployment benefits, which he plans to pay for through a change the child tax credit, and measures to authorize the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, Politico reported.
CORRECTION: Budget deal includes non-binding medical device tax repeal language
The bipartisan deal struck between negotiators in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate includes language that removes a hurdle for proponents of repealing the medical device tax.*
The deal, hashed out by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), passed the House yesterday on a 332-94 vote.
‘Software is not a medical device’: FDA medtech chief battles for control of mHealth
The conversation got a bit heated this week as the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Health sparred with FDA medical device chief Jeffrey Shuren over regulation of mobile medical and healthcare applications.
New House bill aims to slash FDA’s mHealth oversight
A new House bill co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers aims to cut deep into the FDA’s newly finalized oversight of mobile medical apps, keeping regulation only to programs that complement medical technologies or those that turn a mobile device into a medical one.
Senate Health Committee chair says medtech tax repeal is a “phony” issue | MassDevice.com On Call
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.
Reid slips on ‘stupid’ medical device tax
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stumbled over his own words when rejecting efforts to repeal the medical device tax, calling the levy itself "stupid" and taking it back immediately.
His comments suggested a bubbling frustration as the government attempts to find ways to avoid impending shutdown, with latest efforts hinging on a 1-week continuing resolution that would give lawmakers a small stay of execution to work out a deal before they lose funding.
House speaker Boehner cautions Obamacare de-funders | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — House speaker John Boehner warned hard-line GOP members who want to defund healthcare reform not to go through with their dramatic gestures.
Speaking to his cohorts last week, Boehner warned that holding federal functions hostage to healthcare reform negotiations could result in backlash from the public. Boehner issued his advice after receiving a letter with signatures from 80 Republicans in Congress urging him to block Obamacare at all costs.
Hospitals may be protected from honest billing mistakes | MassDevice.com On Call
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — The False Claims Act gives federal authorities broad power to open an investigation for Medicare and Medicaid billing fraud, but a new bill would give hospitals an extra layer of protection.
The bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last week would set up several procedural steps before the U.S. Justice Dept. or another federal agency can charge for fraud, shielding hospitals from costly legal consequences for honest billing mistakes.