He says that the tax creates more challenges for states that are looking to expand Medicaid and take on the fiduciary responsibility for the execution of federal funds for Medicare.

Echoing his sentiments is Bruce Carlson, publisher of the healthcare market research publication Kalorama Information, who says doing away with the tax will allow the industry "to breathe a sigh of relief" as it will allow companies to spend more on R&D and will generate greater appeal of medical device projects among venture capitalists.


He adds though that should it or a similar policy be enacted again, smaller companies should be exempt from the law. "One error made when the law was enacted was to fail to exclude small companies with few employees. The tax could be shouldered by large companies to an extent, but for small companies, it erased badly needed profit."

The tax is currently suspended, a status that is set to expire on January 1, 2020.

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