Kevin Roberts: “included in the half trillion dollars in new taxes in this health reform bill is a tax hike of $20 billion on medical…”

“included in the half trillion dollars in new taxes in this health reform bill is a tax hike of $20 billion on medical devices, a $20 billion excise tax on lifesaving medical devices. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation have both confirmed that these excise taxes will not be borne by the medical device industry if in fact that is what the other side wanted to do. Instead, the tax will be passed on to patients in the form of higher prices and higher insurance premiums. My colleagues are going to speak in greater detail about this tax, but let me take a moment to talk about some of the people who will bear the burden, and what types of devices will be taxed. People with disabilities, diabetics, amputees, people with cancer and people with Alzheimer's are just some of the folks who will see their tax costs go up because of this tax. My amendment prevents this new tax from raising the already high cost for these groups by striking the tax on medical devices. This is a tax on innovative devices as well, a device such as the cyberknife. The cyberknife is a noninvasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of both cancerous and noncancerous tumors anywhere in the body. Yet under this bill, such cutting-edge devices will be taxed. Those who need the treatment offered by the cyberknife will see the cost of that treatment go up.”