California Biomedical Community Supports Legislation to Repeal Medical Device Tax, Spur Scientific Innovation
LA JOLLA, Calif. (PRWEB) January 07, 2015 -- CHI-California Healthcare Institute issued the following statement today in response to newly introduced bipartisan legislation authored by Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) and Ron Kind (D-Wis.) to repeal the 2.3 percent medical device excise tax levied on medical device firms as part of the Affordable Care Act.
“CHI strongly supports the repeal of the 2.3 percent medical device tax, which is hampering innovation and investment in research and development,” said Todd Gillenwater, CHI’s senior vice president of public policy. “California is home to more than 1,500 medical device manufacturers, employing over 75,000 people with wages averaging $87,000 a year. This tax is expected to extract nearly $25 billion from device firms, and is already having an adverse impact on R&D investment and job creation, jeopardizing the U.S. position as a global leader in medical device innovation. Recent surveys of medical device manufacturers indicate that the tax has precluded both large and small companies from hiring approximately 19,000, while also causing the loss of 14,000 jobs and reducing manufacturer R&D budgets. With 254 cosponsors from both sides of the political spectrum, the Protect Medical Innovation Act is a common sense solution we can all agree on that will rescind this ill-conceived tax. We applaud Representatives Paulsen and Kind and the 18 bipartisan members of California’s congressional delegation for supporting this critically important bill.”
“At a time when the main concern for majority of Americans is job creation, Congress needs to be supporting the growth of businesses that make their products in America and employ American workers. This excise tax punishes small businesses who may be just beginning to turn the corner toward being profitable. San Diego’s and America’s economic future depends on the success of our innovators. Congress needs to support them by repealing this tax.” – Representative Scott Peters (D-CA-52)
“Starting off the 114th Congress, our main focus must be on job creation and lessening the burden of government on hard-working Americans. The medical device tax has proven to be a roadblock in promoting job growth – and has instead cost Americans over 30,000 jobs. It’s time we repeal this job-killing tax, and restore equity to the domestic medical device marketplace by allowing those companies to continue to innovate while protecting American jobs.” – Representative Mimi Walters (R-CA-45)
California is the global leader in medical technology investment and innovation, with more medical device companies and workers here than anywhere else in the nation. The state is home to 1,528 medical technology firms, which represent the largest segment of the total 270,300 California life sciences jobs, according to the 2015 California Biomedical Industry Report. To learn more, view the 2015 California Biomedical Industry Report.
Click here to view the legislation.
About CHI-California Healthcare Institute
CHI represents more than 275 leading biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics and pharmaceutical companies, and public and private academic biomedical research organizations. CHI’s mission is to advance biomedical research, investment and innovation through effective advocacy of policies to improve public health and ensure continued vitality of the life sciences sector. CHI’s website is http://www.chi.org. Follow us on Twitter @calhealthcare, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Contact:
Will Zasadny
Manager – Communications
Zasadny(at)chi(dot)org
Phone: (619) 961-8848
Will Zasadny, Manager of Communications, CHI-California Healthcare Institute, http://www.chi.org, +1 619-961-8848, [email protected]
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