Crush Liberalism

Shocker: MA medical device companies laying off workers to pay for ObamaCare tax

You mean businesses won’t eat costs imposed on them by Big Government?  Huh.  Who knew?  I mean, aside from me and everyone who isn’t a functional economic illiterate, who could have seen this coming?

Massachusetts medical-device companies say they’ll cut back on operational costs – and jobs – after a planned 2.3 percent tax on their products is implemented in 2013, according to a new survey.

The Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, which held its annual meeting yesterday in Boston, said about 90 percent of the 100 medical-device firms said they would reduce costs due to the new tax tucked into the recently passed health-care reform bill.

The tax – imposed to help pay for the massive health-care industry overhaul and expansion – is “of the greatest concern” to a majority of its members, the survey found.

About 70 percent of the survey respondents said future innovation will be hurt by a new federal “physician sunshine bill.” The bill will require medical-device firms to report their marketing expenditures on physicians, and a recently passed gift-ban law in Massachusetts.

About 41 percent of the council’s members said the new health-care bill will help the industry by expanding the number of people getting health-care insurance.

But 42 percent said the new health-care reform bill won’t increase their business, the survey found.

Awesome.  Nothing encourages innovation in medical technology quite like taxing the companies that produce said innovation.

May 6, 2010 Posted by crushliberalism | big government, economic ignorance, health care, Massachusetts, socialism, taxes | 4 Comments