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yet more of the wonderful, wonderful things given to us by a 2,000 page monstrosity which no one read and which no one yet fully understands.
say it with me: Congress. Does. Not. Do. Comprehensive. Well.
Everyone agrees that the burden of dealing with escalating health-care costs should not fall on the most vulnerable, right? Democrats in particular are always at pains to convince us that they are sensitive to the needs of the less fortunate. Yet among the many new taxes Obamacare will impose is one that hits wounded veterans and sick children especially hard — the 2.3 percent annual tax on medical-device manufacturers set to begin in 2013.
All of those fantastic prosthetic limbs, powered wheelchairs, stents, pacemakers, artificial hips, and other miraculous technologies that improve the lives of maimed soldiers will now be more expensive. Some estimates suggest that the tax will siphon off 17 percent of profits for the industry. As Ed Morrissey reported last May, Massachusetts medical-device companies have already begun to plan layoffs to cope with the new tax. According to the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, “about 90 percent of the 100 medical-device firms said they would reduce costs due to the new tax tucked into the recently passed health-care reform bill.”
Almost certainly, this will mean reductions in research and development. As the maxim goes: If you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, subsidize it. By taxing medical devices, Obamacare has probably postponed the day my 17-year-old, Type I–diabetic son is most looking forward to: the invention and marketing of an artificial pancreas...
Short of a cure, the great hope of Type I diabetics everywhere is the artificial pancreas. The insulin pump (or an improved model that can dispense glucagon as well as insulin) is half of the equation. The other half is the CGM, or continuous glucose monitor. The CGM measures blood sugar using a catheter under the skin, and has been available only since 2007. CGM is in its early stages and requires more work before it can completely supplant finger sticks (because it measures glucose in interstitial fluid, there is a lag time of up to 15 minutes). But the holy grail will be an integrated system consisting of a pump and CGM that talk to each other — amounting to an artificial pancreas. Such a system, while not without nuisance and discomfort, would solve two huge problems: (1) It would significantly reduce the danger of sudden death from extremely low blood sugar by warning the user about plunging glucose levels, and (2) it would reduce the incidence of diabetes complications — like blindness, heart disease, and amputations — to near zero for conscientious users.
But the three million Americans with Type I, including nearly 180,000 under the age of 20, will have to wait.
We have ensured, through Obamacare, that we will get less research and development of medical devices. We have also guaranteed that medical spending will increase dramatically. In Massachusetts, which passed a similar “reform” in 2006, health spending has increased by 8 to 10 percent per year, and is now double the national average...
say it with me: Congress. Does. Not. Do. Comprehensive. Well.
Everyone agrees that the burden of dealing with escalating health-care costs should not fall on the most vulnerable, right? Democrats in particular are always at pains to convince us that they are sensitive to the needs of the less fortunate. Yet among the many new taxes Obamacare will impose is one that hits wounded veterans and sick children especially hard — the 2.3 percent annual tax on medical-device manufacturers set to begin in 2013.
All of those fantastic prosthetic limbs, powered wheelchairs, stents, pacemakers, artificial hips, and other miraculous technologies that improve the lives of maimed soldiers will now be more expensive. Some estimates suggest that the tax will siphon off 17 percent of profits for the industry. As Ed Morrissey reported last May, Massachusetts medical-device companies have already begun to plan layoffs to cope with the new tax. According to the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, “about 90 percent of the 100 medical-device firms said they would reduce costs due to the new tax tucked into the recently passed health-care reform bill.”
Almost certainly, this will mean reductions in research and development. As the maxim goes: If you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, subsidize it. By taxing medical devices, Obamacare has probably postponed the day my 17-year-old, Type I–diabetic son is most looking forward to: the invention and marketing of an artificial pancreas...
Short of a cure, the great hope of Type I diabetics everywhere is the artificial pancreas. The insulin pump (or an improved model that can dispense glucagon as well as insulin) is half of the equation. The other half is the CGM, or continuous glucose monitor. The CGM measures blood sugar using a catheter under the skin, and has been available only since 2007. CGM is in its early stages and requires more work before it can completely supplant finger sticks (because it measures glucose in interstitial fluid, there is a lag time of up to 15 minutes). But the holy grail will be an integrated system consisting of a pump and CGM that talk to each other — amounting to an artificial pancreas. Such a system, while not without nuisance and discomfort, would solve two huge problems: (1) It would significantly reduce the danger of sudden death from extremely low blood sugar by warning the user about plunging glucose levels, and (2) it would reduce the incidence of diabetes complications — like blindness, heart disease, and amputations — to near zero for conscientious users.
But the three million Americans with Type I, including nearly 180,000 under the age of 20, will have to wait.
We have ensured, through Obamacare, that we will get less research and development of medical devices. We have also guaranteed that medical spending will increase dramatically. In Massachusetts, which passed a similar “reform” in 2006, health spending has increased by 8 to 10 percent per year, and is now double the national average...