The Emergo Group Blog provides short updates on quality and regulatory topics that may be of interest to QA/RA professionals in the medical device and IVD industry. No fluff, just straight to the point. We hope you’ll enjoy the content.
By Stewart Eisenhart, Emergo Group
Since its implementation in 2013 as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Medical Device Excise Tax (MDET) has drawn steady fire from industry trade groups and their allies in the US Congress. So far, however, lawmakers’ efforts to repeal the tax have fallen short due to opposing agendas of the Republican-led House of Representatives and the Democratic majority in the Senate. 
Now that ostensibly pro-business Republicans control Congress, eventual repeal of MDET seem more likely. Congressional leaders have wasted no time introducing new bills targeting the excise tax:
- In the House of Representatives, Republicans have introduced the Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2015 – along with 32 Democratic cosponsors
- In the Senate, Obamacare foe Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has introduced the Medical Device Access & Innovation Protection Act; five Democrats including Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are cosponsors
Bills in both chambers of Congress have attracted support from Democrats in states such as Minnesota, Utah and Massachusetts, where medical device companies play significant economic roles. Support for MDET repeal seems to cross party lines and has more to do with the geographic density of industry employment than party affiliation.
The $20,000,000,000 snag