A second bill to repeal the 2.3% medical device tax has been introduced into Congress.
On February 7, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Medical Device Access and Innovation Protection Act into the Senate, one day after Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced the Protect Medical Innovation Act into the House.
The Senate bill includes bipartisan cosponsorship from nine Republican and Democrat senators.
Under the 2.3% tax, device manufacturers are required to pay an estimated average of $194 million per month in medical device tax payments (with a payment of approximately $97 million due semimonthly).
The Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) quickly threw its support behind the bills. In a prepared statement, Gail Rodriguez, MITA's executive director, said the medical device sector is a "critical driver of economic growth, bringing the most innovative lifesaving technologies to market while creating and sustaining thousands of American jobs."
Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), stated that repealing the device tax is the organization's top priority, adding that the repeal is critical to job creation and continued progress in the medical technology sector.
