Fix Health Care Policy

10 Stories of Job Loss as Consequences of Obamacare

As employers and businesses prepare for Obamacare’s sweeping changes and mandates to begin in 2014, many are already laying off some of their employees. An event at Heritage today will discuss the burdens of the law both for small businesses’ ability to hire and grow and individuals’ ability to find jobs. Here are 10 examples of job loss due in whole or part to Obamacare and its consequences:

Medical Device Tax

1. 1,000 jobs lost: “Stryker Corporation Confirms Obamacare Layoffs.”
2. 275 jobs lost: “Medical Device Tax Blamed for Welch Allyn Layoffs.”
3. 100 jobs lost: “Latest Obamacare Casualty: 100 Workers at Smith and Nephew.”

The 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of medical devices, one of the 18 tax hikes in Obamacare, is estimated to cost the industry over $29 billion between 2013 and 2022. Many employers in the industry are compensating for the tax hike by reducing their labor costs.

Medicare Payment Cuts

1. 950 jobs lost: “Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Reengineers Cost Structure, Eliminate Positions.”
2. Up to 400 jobs lost: “Orlando Health to Cut Record Number of Jobs to Save Money.”
3. 52 Jobs lost: “Delaware Hospice Lays Off 52 Workers amid Federal Changes.”
4. 58 jobs lost: “Hospital Layoffs and the Affordable Hea[l]th Care Act.”

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: employer mandate, job loss, Medical device tax, Medicare payment cuts, ObamaCare

Obamacare May Hike Your Pet’s Health Care Bills

American health care consumers aren’t the only ones who will be hit by slated Obamacare tax hikes. Medical bills for their pets may go up as well.

According to a rule published Friday by the Internal Revenue Service, some medical devices used in veterinary practices will be hit by Obamacare’s 2.3 percent device tax. Many of their manufacturers are expected to hike prices, meaning higher veterinary costs for the nation’s pet owners.

The tax will not hit devices that are used exclusively for veterinary purposes. But a host of such devices are manufactured for use in both human health care and veterinary practices. Those devices’ manufacturers will have to pay the tax.

The IRS rule states:

Section 4191 [of the Internal Revenue Code] limits the definition of a taxable medical device to devices described in section 201(h) of the [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act] that are intended for humans, but does not provide that the device must be intended exclusively for humans. Under existing [Food and Drug Administration] regulations, a device intended for use exclusively in veterinary medicine is not required to be listed as a device with the FDA, whereas a device intended for use in human medicine is required to be listed as a device with the FDA even if the device may also be used in veterinary medicine.

According to the FDA, common “dual use” medical devices are “examination gloves, sterile catheters, infusion pumps, etc.”

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: Medical device tax, ObamaCare, pet health, repeal the law, veterinary prices

To Stop Taxmageddon, Repeal Obamacare

Unless President Obama and Congress take action soon, Taxmageddon will hit on January 1, 2013. Taxmageddon is a $494 billion tax increase for 2013 alone. It is made up of several expiring tax policies and the implementation of new Obamacare tax increases that all kick in at the start of next year.

Five of Obamacare’s 18 new taxes begin in 2013, and they would raise $23 billion for the year. Heritage tax policy expert Curtis Dubay explains that two of them will be especially harmful: an increase in the Medicare payroll tax and a new medical device tax.

Starting January 2013, Obamacare increases the Medicare payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent for individuals with income over $200,000 a year ($250,000 for couples). This increase will hinder economic growth and deter job creation for small businesses.

(Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: fiscal cliff, Medical device tax, Medicare payroll tax, Obamacare tax hikes, tanning tax, Taxmageddon

Democrat Senate Candidate Wants to Repeal (Part of) Obamacare

There are millions of Americans who want to see Obamacare repealed, and with good reason. But it’s a rare day indeed when a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate (and former adviser to President Obama) calls for part of the president’s health care law to be eliminated.

But that’s just what happened when Elizabeth Warren, who is campaigning in Massachusetts against incumbent Senator Scott Brown (R), authored an op-ed that calls for the repeal of Obamacare’s medical device tax. Under the law, Obamacare imposes a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device manufacturers, beginning in 2013. The cost of the new tax–$20 billion from 2013 to 2019–will be passed down to consumers, who will ultimately pay the price through higher medical costs and premiums.

Of course, new taxes bring new consequences, and Massachusetts will feel its share of the pain. Back in 2010, a CEO of a medical device company that employs 650 people in Massachusetts warned of Obamacare, “This bill is a jobs killer. We could be forced to (move) manufacturing overseas if we can’t pass along these costs to our customers.” Since all politics is local, it’s not surprising that Warren is now trumpeting the medical device and diagnostics industry in her state, remarking that it “employs around 24,000 people and is responsible for 13 percent of all state exports.” The continued success of that industry, Warren writes, depends on innovation — and the right climate for that innovation to occur demands a repeal of the medical device tax:

Innovation starts with a creative spark—but that spark turns into a great invention only if the right conditions are in place. Steady financing and a smart, highly skilled team are critical. The government also plays a critical role in speeding – or slowing – the pace of innovation. Three changes in government policy are essential: a more efficient regulatory system at the FDA, repeal of the medical device tax, and an increased national commitment to research and education.

(Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: Elizabeth Warren, Medical device tax, Obamacare taxes, partial repeal, repeal the law

In Michigan, Obamacare is Already a Job-Killer

While the White House continues its rhetoric on job creation, the job-killing effects of Obamacare are already taking effect. One provision of the law, its tax on medical device manufacturers, is already having a detrimental impact on a Michigan-based manufacturer.

Stryker Corporation has announced that it will cut approximately 5 percent of its workforce by 2013 due to the tax. As Heritage has shown, this isn’t the first device manufacturer to voice concerns about job loss in the U.S. resulting from the tax, and it is sure not to be the last.

Over 110 jobs will be cut in Kalamazoo alone, bad news for a state already facing over 11 percent unemployment. According to the firm:

The targeted reductions and other restructuring activities are being initiated to provide efficiencies and realign resources in advance of the new Medical Device Excise Tax scheduled to begin in 2013.   (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: high unemployment, job killer, Medical device tax, Michigan, ObamaCare

Side Effects: Medical Devices Tax Will Costs Jobs

There’s only one way to pull the economy out of the doldrums. We need more jobs. Now.

As Obamacare inched its way toward passage, boosters of the radical legislation began making bold new claims about its virtues. The bill, they said, would do far more than simply fix the health care system; it would create jobs and boost the economy, too.

[Oddly, they stopped short of claiming it would also help melt away the pounds as you sleep.]

Not surprisingly, the early evidence is quickly proving their claims to be false. (more…)

Tags: IRS, job killer, job loss, Medical device tax, ObamaCare, Side Effects