All of us would love to invent a perpetual motion machine that would transport us from one place to another without using any fuel or emitting anything. Well, the Max Baucus healthcare proposal wants to do that with money. <\/p>\n
According to the Wall Street Journal<\/a> today, one of the ways Senator Baucus intends to fund the new healthcare legislation is the impose a $40 billion “fee” on medical devices and diagnostic equipment. This would amount to a 10% to 30% income tax surcharge on the people who invent and market these products, depending on the corporation. Obviously, the cost increase to the corporations would eventually be passed on to the healthcare consumer–raising costs. This of course would raise the cost of the program for the government, and any actual revenue from the tax would only cover the increased cost. All I can think of is a cat chasing its tail–ultimately the cat gives up because it can’t quite accomplish its goal. In this case, the result will be either the cutback of healthcare or more taxes to pay for it.<\/p>\n The article notes that the the device lobby made a mistake by trying to negotiate with the President on terms of the healthcare bill rather than just campaigning against it from the start. The conclusion:<\/p>\n “And now it may be too late. As we’ve argued, liberal Democrats think that merely allowing an industry to continue to exist is a concession, and they’re already taking the pharma and hospital concessions and running them higher. In the case of devices, patients will be left with higher costs for fewer life-saving technologies.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The healthcare bill now proposed is a bad bill. It does not address the basic needs of healthcare–instead it just creates more bureaucracy and more excuses to raise taxes on people and corporations. Unless tort reform, healthcare insurance across state lines, and the subject on insuring illegal aliens are addressed, healthcare reform will simply be a way to grow government. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All of us would love to invent a perpetual motion machine that would transport us from one place to another without using any fuel or emitting anything. Well, the Max Baucus healthcare proposal wants to do that with money. According … Continue reading \n