In an election season in which the presidential campaign “issues” have ranged from “hot mics” to emails, some down-ballot campaign ads highlight a wonky, far less racy topic: a tax on medical devices.
Really? Why?
The device tax taps into voters' feelings about placing such levies on businesses and into opinions about the Affordable Care Act's future. A provision of the federal health law, it was designed to tax manufacturers of some of the most expensive items on medical bills — from pacemakers to artificial joints. Revenues from the tax were meant to help finance the act, so to some it became a proxy for the act itself. Congress voted to suspend it for two years — until 2018 — after intense lobbying by the medical device industry, and, in states with a heavy industry presence, candidates are being asked to take a stand on whether they'll push to have the tax repealed.
