House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) has released legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act through a budget process known as reconciliation. The legislation is part of House Republicans’ American Health Care Act.
The legislation is the result of a budget resolution passed by the House in January 2017 to begin the process for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The budget resolution outlined specific instructions for the Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees — the primary Committees with jurisdiction over healthcare — to draft legislative recommendations that the budget committee could compile into one reconciliation package.
When combined with the legislation released by Energy and Commerce, the American Health Care Act is expected to meet those instructions. Among other mandates, the legislation would dismantle the Affordable Care Act’s taxes, including taxes on medical devices.
“AdvaMed commends the House Ways and Means Committee for moving forward with legislation that will permanently repeal the medical device excise tax,” says AdvaMed president and CEO Scott Whitaker. “Bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate are on record in support of repeal of this onerous tax. Recent data from the U.S. Commerce Department showed that the medical technology industry experienced a decline of nearly 29,000 U.S. jobs while the tax was in effect.”
“Conversely,” says Whitaker, “an analysis by the American Action Forum demonstrated that permanent repeal of the tax could result in excess of 53,000 additional industry jobs, compared to what would occur if the tax remains in effect. Repealing the tax,” he says,“will provide medical technology innovators with the long-term certainty necessary to support future job growth and sustainable, cutting-edge R&D that will ultimately lead to the next generation of breakthroughs in patient care and treatment.”
The Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a markup of this legislation on March 8, at 10:30 am, in room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building.
Read the bill here .
