Assault on Affordable Care Act Continues

[yallerdawg]

In a little five minute vote after TPA was passed today, the House voted to end another source of funding for the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices, seeking again to remove a piece of Obamacare.

The repeal drew bipartisan support and passed on a 280-140 vote Thursday. That still may not be enough. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, and Senate support likely hinges on finding a way to offset the loss of $24.4 billion in revenue over a decade.

The Obama administration has remained opposed to repealing the tax, partly because of the deficit effect and partly because of the initial rationale for its passage.

“The medical device industry, like others, will benefit from millions of new consumers who are gaining health coverage under the Affordable Care Act,” the administration wrote in its veto threat. “This excise tax is one of several designed so that industries that gain from the coverage expansion will help offset the cost of that expansion.”

The Congressional Research Service has questioned whether the tax is as damaging as the industry maintains. The effects will fall on consumers, researchers say, and the reduction in jobs and output for the companies is probably 0.2 percent at most.

“With relatively small effects on the U.S. medical device industry, it is unlikely that there will be significant consequences for innovation and for small and midsized firms,” CRS wrote earlier this year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-06-18/house-votes-again-to-repeal-obamacare-s-tax-on-medical-devices

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Should be called the Medtronics Tax repeal.

Our Nation just simply has to wake the F-- up. If you are a millionaire,vote GOP. For the rest,it is a no brainier.