Nearly 50 House Democrats joined Republicans Thursday to vote to repeal the healthcare law’s medical device tax.
The measure gathered more bipartisan support than almost every other Obamacare repeal effort by House Republicans over the last few years, passing the chamber easily 280-140. More than one in four Democrats supported the measure, which would get rid of a 2.3 percent tax on makers of medical devices such as pacemakers or artificial joints.
“Our country’s health care industry is one of incredible potential — yet under the president’s harmful healthcare law, medical innovation has been repeatedly stifled by unnecessary and costly taxes,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the No. 4 House Republican.
The House has voted twice before to repeal the tax, not including full Obamacare repeal votes. Thirty-seven Democrats came on board the first time House Republicans voted to ditch the tax, in June 2012.
Support for repealing the tax is strongest among members from states with lots of device manufacturers, who have started a massive lobbying effort to get it struck from the law.
The tax was a way for manufacturers to help pay for the healthcare law, since it benefits them by enabling more people to buy health services. But the industry has waged a war against the tax, saying it is harming job creation and innovation.
The Congressional Budget Office has said that ditching the tax, which is a source of revenue helping pay for the Affordable Care Act, costs $26 billion over a decade. The House measure passed Thursday didn’t include a funding offset.
