Furious Lobbying Successful Against Proposed Device Tax

The Senate bill is expected to levy a fee of between $15 billion and $20 billion over a decade on device makers, reports the Wall Street Journal.According to WSJ, "The lower fee comes as big device makers like Medtronic Inc., St. Jude Medical Inc., and Johnson & Johnson have lobbied furiously against the Senate proposal. Their congressional allies from Minnesota, California, Massachusetts and elsewhere have barraged Democratic leaders with calls and letters."This new version is an excise tax imposed on the device at the point of sale, rather than levied by the prior year's market share, as the original tax proposed. The medical-device tax will bring revenue that Democrats have sought to ensure their proposals expanding coverage to the poor and to the uninsured won't add to the deficit.