WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an op-ed published today in Morning Consult, AdvaMed President and CEO Scott Whitaker urges Congress to act before the medical device excise tax comes back into effect Jan. 1.

Whitaker points out that “bipartisan congressional majorities, and both a Democratic and Republican president, have suspended the medical device tax multiple times, at this point for longer than it was ever in place. Everyone now understands the use of an excise tax on a life-saving industry is simply bad economic policy, bad tax policy and bad health care policy.”

He goes on to cite the recent analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation demonstrating that reinstatement of the tax would cost 21,390 American jobs in the next two years. In addition, he notes that medtech companies would have to divert approximately $25 billion over ten years to pay for the tax, funds that otherwise could be devoted to developing new life-saving technologies.

“The clock is running out. The tax is set to return New Year’s Day if Congress doesn’t act.

“We saw the first time what the medical device excise tax did to the medical technology industry, to innovation, to jobs, and ultimately to the American patients our industry serves.

“If Congress doesn’t repeal this tax, we will see it again.”

Click here to read the piece on Morning Consult’s website.