Senate Finance Health Subcommittee Holds Critical Hearing on Medical Device Tax
Neurosurgeons Urge Congress to Repeal the Device Tax
Washington, DC – The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of
Neurological Surgeons (CNS) commend the Health Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on
Finance for holding a hearing on the impact of the medical device tax on jobs, innovation and patients.
This is a critical step to repealing this detrimental tax.
Created by the Affordable Care Act, the medical device tax is a 2.3 percent excise tax that applies to the
gross sales of medical device products. This tax imposes over $30 billion in new taxes and is adversely
affecting medical innovation and patient care.
AANS president, Robert E. Harbaugh, MD, noted, “Repealing the medical device tax is among
neurosurgery’s top legislative priorities and we applaud the bipartisan efforts of Congress to abolish this
arbitrary tax, which is ill-advised and ultimately will negatively impacts our patients.”
According to a recent study published by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), as
many as 195,000 jobs may be lost due to the tax, either through layoffs or forgone jobs that would have
been created.
“Our health care system needs innovation to improve patient care and save lives. Instead, this tax stifles
innovation and reduces patient access to new lifesaving technologies,” said CNS president, Nathan R.
Selden, MD.
The AANS and CNS have endorsed both S. 149, the “Medical Device Access and Innovation Protection
Act,” and H.R. 160, the “Protect Medical Innovation Act,” and look forward to working with the
members of the Senate Finance Committee to develop policy solutions to better support medical
innovation and increase treatment options for our patients
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