On July 24, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protect Medical Innovation Act (H.R. 184), an AAO-endorsed bill that would permanently repeal the medical device tax.
The AAO, in coordination with a diverse coalition of stakeholders, has long advocated for medical device tax repeal. In 2010, Congress imposed a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device manufacturer and importers. In practice, this tax has been passed along to small business medical providers, like orthodontists, who have been forced to choose between absorbing the cost or passing the cost along to their patients.
Earlier this year, we were grateful that Congress suspended the medical device tax through calendar year 2019. If the Protect Medical Innovation Act is enacted, the medical device tax would not be reinstated.
We applaud Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Ron Kind (D-WI) for their leadership on this issue and recognize the 277 bipartisan members of the House who co-sponsored the bill. We consider House passage of the Protect Medical Innovation Act to be a significant win for AAO members and patients, and we will continue to advocate for Senate passage so that this bill can become law.
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