Over 140 organisations have signed a letter to Congress calling on them to permanently repeal the medical device tax before the end of this year.
The letter, sent to both the Senate and House of Representatives, urges action from both chambers to repeal the tax “so that individuals with life-threatening conditions will continue to benefit from the promise of advanced medical technology to extend and improve lives”.
The letter reads: “Medical technology touches every aspect of the health care continuum. For people with cancer, diagnostic tests and imaging technologies offer vital information that guides more precise treatment, while radiotherapies and surgical oncology tools provide treatment options with fewer side effects, giving patients hope for a better quality of life. For people suffering spinal cord injury and disease, medical technology is an essential element to improving mobility and living independently. And for people with neurological conditions like epilepsy, medical technology is providing monitoring solutions that can predict and prevent seizures before they happen, a technology that would have seemed unimaginable even ten years ago.
“Full repeal of the device tax would mean that the medical technology industry can continue innovating new approaches to managing chronic health issues, improving the overall quality of life, and developing technologies that could revolutionise the way we treat disease and illness in this country.”
The coalition of patient advocacy, disability, research, community and healthcare organisations expressed deep concern about the future of medtech innovation and its impact on patient care should the medical device excise tax be reinstated.
The letter emphasises that over the past three decades, rapid technological advances have helped increase life expectancy in the U.S. and have helped significantly reduce mortality rates for major diseases, including stroke and heart disease mortality rates by nearly 60% and breast cancer mortality rates by more than 30%.