Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (24362)	7/26/2012 11:28:21 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 42652

I think that the federal government should do, when all else fails and it's important enough, what only the federal government can do, especially when it's small potatoes and they're smart about how they implement. Tim thinks the federal government should do only what's in the Constitutution. The difference between those two standards in a practical sense is slight, definitely not enough to be more than a rounding error in the size of the government or the national debt. I don't recall Tim ever having an issue in principle with the federal government engaging on orphan drugs, although he may have issues with the implementation of this particular program.

To: Road Walker who wrote (24362)	7/28/2012 9:00:26 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax By Judson Berger Published July 27, 2012 An Indiana-based medical equipment manufacturer says it's scrapping plans to open five new plants in the coming years because of a looming tax tied to President Obama's health care overhaul law. Cook Medical claims the tax on medical devices, set to take effect next year, will cost the company roughly $20 million a year, cutting into money that would otherwise go toward expanding into new facilities over the next five years. "This is the equivalent of about a plant a year that we're not going to be able to build," a company spokesman told FoxNews.com. He said the original plan was to build factories in "hard-pressed" Midwestern communities, each employing up to 300 people. But those factories cost roughly the same amount as the projected cost of the new tax. "In reality, we're not looking at the U.S. to build factories anymore as long as this tax is in place. We can't, to be competitive," he said. Company executive Pete Yonkman first revealed the scuttled plans in an interview with the Indianapolis Business Journal. The company later confirmed the decision to FoxNews.com. The Affordable Care Act imposed a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices beginning in 2013. It is projected raise nearly $30 billion over the next decade. But the Cook Medical spokesman said the impact is greater than just a 2.3 percent uptick in taxes. He said the impact on actual earnings is another 15 percent, and he projected the company's total tax burden next year will rise to over 50 percent. Republicans and medical device makers have been railing against the tax all along, with the GOP-controlled House approving a bill last month to repeal it. The Senate, though, hasn't taken it up. A recent study by the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, though, said the complaints by the industry are exaggerated. "The tax will not cause manufacturers to shift production overseas. The tax applies equally to imported and domestically produced devices, and devices produced in the United States for export are tax-exempt," the study said. It also said repealing the tax would "undercut health reform" by requiring Congress to offset the repeal by potentially killing spending provisions in the law and by potentially encouraging similar repeals. Cook Medical is part of a family of companies that produce medical devices for surgery, obstetrics, gynecology and other fields. foxnews.com