The US Senate and House of Representatives have passed a continuing resolution (CR) that includes an additional two-year suspension of the medical device tax.
The legislation suspends until December 2019 the job and innovation destroying 2.3% medical device excise tax imposed on medical device firms.
Originally, the tax was set up as part of the Affordable Care Act. The device tax moratorium was included as a provision of H.R. 195, which is a short-term federal government funding bill that was passed by both chambers.
The latest action is a continuation of the earlier two-year suspension of the device tax in 2016 and 2017.
California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) president and CEO Sara Radcliffe said: “California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) applauds the House and Senate passage of legislation that temporarily suspends the ill-conceived 2.3% medical device tax for an additional 2 years, until December 2019.
“Since its inception, this tax has only hindered innovation and investment in medical technology research and development.”
Cook Medical’s parent company Cook Group chairman Steve Ferguson said: “Cook Medical would like to thank our congressional delegation for their leadership to extend the suspension of this tax on medical device companies.”
In December 2017, the US House of Representatives Erik Paulsen and Jackie Walorski have introduced H.R. 4716, a new legislation to suspend the medical device tax for five years.
In 2015, a bipartisan coalition in the House and Senate came together to approve a two-year suspension of the tax, which was expired in 2017.
Image: The new legislation will suspend medical device tax for two years in US. Photo: courtesy of anankkml / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.