BILBRAY INTRODUCES BILL TO REPEAL MEDICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURING TAX

July 7, 2010 (San Diego) -- Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-San Diego) has introduced the Medical Device Tax Repeal Bill, H.R. 5615, designed to repeal the medical device manufacturing tax that was passed with President Barack Obama’s health care insurance bill earlier this year.

“You don’t kill health care jobs to pay for health care,” said Congressman Bilbray. “Raising taxes on our medical device manufacturers does nothing to get anyone back to work. When one in ten San Diegans can’t find work, job creation must be our number one priority.”

The Obama Administration plans to tax medical device manufacturers to raise $20 billion throughout the decade to help offset costs of the health care bill the president signed into law earlier this year. Bilbray voted against the health care reform bill.

Bilbray’s bill, H.R. 5615, leverages unused stimulus money of which $421 billion (or 53 percent) has yet to be spent, he said. 

California has the most to lose with increased taxes on the medical device manufacturing industry. Medical device manufacturing companies in the Golden State directly employ more people than any other state in the country. There are currently more than 72,000 individuals directly employed by medical device manufacturers in California.