Dr. Paul Hsieh on the Medical-Device Tax

Posted by Joshua Lipana

I recently asked Dr. Paul Hsieh, Forbes.com columnist, and co-funder of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine, what he thought about President Obama’s medical-device tax. Here is Dr. Hsieh’s response:

“The medical device tax is one of the most pernicious parts of ObamaCare, because it’s basically a tax on future life-saving innovation.  The tax will cost both American jobs and American lives.

“Many device manufacturers operate on very thin economic margins.  Hence, a seemingly small 2.3% tax could mean the difference between a company opening a new factory — or being forced to close one.  Or it could mean the difference between a new device that saves thousands of lives reaching the market in 2 years — or 10 years (if ever).

“Plus, the nature of the tax makes it very difficult for people to imagine the innovations that were never developed or the deaths that could have been prevented if the tax had not been imposed.

“Fortunately, there are some politicians in both major political parties who wish to repeal the medical device tax.  Although I’d prefer a full repeal of ObamaCare, this isn’t going to happen anytime soon.  But in the meantime, we can still encourage and support lawmakers who want to repeal parts of ObamaCare.  Repealing the medical device tax would be a great place to start.”

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Dr. Hsieh has also written two op-eds about the medical-device tax:

“The Federal Government’s War On Medical Innovation”
Forbes, 8/8/2012
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/08/08/the-federal-governments-war-on-medical-innovation/

“The Deadly Tax on Medical Innovation”
PJ Media, 4/11/2010
http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-deadly-tax-on-medical-innovation/?singlepage=true

Dr. Paul Hsieh is an excellent champion of freedom in medicine. I am grateful for his work, and I encourage you all to check out more of it.

Click here for a general list of his articles.