The House has voted to repeal Obamacare’s medical device tax, a measure that has support from the Trump administration.
The bill passed with support from both parties by a 283-132 vote. One Republican, Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina, joined 131 Democrats in voting against the bill.
If signed into law, the bill to repeal the tax, known as the Protect Medical Innovation Act, would end the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices that Congress has suspended several years in a row.
The tax was one of several measures that were implemented under Obamacare to help offset the provisions in the healthcare law, but members of the industry have long pushed for repeal, saying it will cost jobs and stymie innovation, particularly for smaller businesses. Medical devices include items such as pacemakers, wheelchairs, hip implants, or surgery tools.
The latest effort to resurface the repeal of the device tax was led by Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., and had 43 Democrats among its 269 co-sponsors.
On the Senate side, the bill to repeal the tax is known as the No Taxation on Device Innovation Act, and was introduced by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both of Massachusetts. That version would offset revenues by ending tax breaks on oil companies.
Paulsen said on the House floor ahead of the vote that it was time to end the short-term suspensions of the tax because they left companies with uncertainty about how much they should invest in coming up with new technologies.
“These innovators need stability, they need predictability,” he said.
Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., countered that through Obamacare healthcare industries were expected to contribute to the fact that millions more people were covered by health insurance under Obamacare, allowing them to have ways to pay for medical needs.
Industry groups praised the vote following the bill’s passage.
“Manufacturers welcome the House’s strong, bipartisan vote to repeal Obamacare’s tax on medical devices, and we call on the Senate to act swiftly,” said Robyn Boerstling, vice president of infrastructure, innovation and human resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. “During the two years this harmful tax was in effect, tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs disappeared, innovation stalled, and the cost of certain healthcare treatments requiring a medical device increased needlessly.”
The Advanced Medical Technology Association, or AdvaMed, called the vote a “win for American innovation, American jobs, and most of all for American patients, who benefit from the life-changing innovations our industry produces every day.”
“The overwhelming, bipartisan support for repeal sends a strong message that lawmakers recognize this tax is not good health policy or good fiscal policy,” said Scott Whitaker, AdvaMed president and CEO.
The White House has called on Congress to repeal what it called the “unnecessary and economically harmful” tax in a statement of administration policy Monday, and President Trump’s advisers are urging him to sign it into law.
“Repealing this tax would lower healthcare costs, save American jobs and promote a patient-centered healthcare system,” according to the Trump administration.
The letter continued: “This tax is an obstacle for patients seeking access to medical advances, and threatens to undermine the position of the United States as the global leader in healthcare investment and innovation.”
The tax currently is being delayed for two years as part of a spending bill passed earlier this year, a move expected to cost the government roughly $3.7 billion. It initially went into effect in 2013 but was suspended beginning in 2016. The Congressional Budget Office had projected that it would raise $23.9 billion revenue over a decade.
