Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax

[WillowTree]

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.


Read more: Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax | Fox News







Say bye bye to a bunch of new jobs and some much needed equipments. wow you are so awesome obummer so freakin awesome.

 

[WillowTree]

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.

Read more: Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax | Fox News









double awesome obummer.

 

[CrazedScotsman]

Liberals don't care if a company can't expand or goes out of business. All they care about is getting as many people as possible dependent on the government and the more businesses that can't hire or close, the more people that get on the government entitlement programs.

 

[RoadVirus]

Good job Obama. Time for you to become unemployed yourself.

 

[Mr. H.]

As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.
Maybe someone should have read it after all.

 

[Old Rocks]

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.


Read more: Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax | Fox News







Say bye bye to a bunch of new jobs and some much needed equipments. wow you are so awesome obummer so freakin awesome.

Faux News.

 

[flacaltenn]

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.


Read more: Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax | Fox News







Say bye bye to a bunch of new jobs and some much needed equipments. wow you are so awesome obummer so freakin awesome.

Faux News.

Tell ya what Roxy --- I'll take back this big Fuck You if you prove any fundamental inaccuracies in this reporting.. I'm tired of people indicting sources without doing any work, and I'm TRULY UPSET by watching the engine of our economy get dismantled by your heroes..

Go ahead -- find this on MSNBC or NPR.

 

[flacaltenn]

HEY ROXY ____

NOT Fox News...

Cook Medical shelves Midwest expansion plans | 2012-07-27 | Indianapolis Business Journal | IBJ.com


Cook Medical Inc. had been planning to open five new manufacturing plants over the next five years in small communities around the Midwest, including Indiana, but has shelved those plans because of the hit it will take from a new U.S. tax on medical devices.

The Bloomington-based medical device maker estimates it will pay between $20 million and $30 million once the tax takes effect in January, Pete Yonkman, executive vice president of strategic business units at Cook Medical, said this week.

Cook officials have long been critical of the medical device tax. Even before it became law, Bill Cook said it could cost the company as many as 1,000 jobs.

Since then, Cook officials have said their future growth will be focused overseas. Cook already has production facilities in Ireland, Denmark and Australia.
Since then, Cook officials have said their future growth will be focused overseas. Cook already has production facilities in Ireland, Denmark and Australia.

WHEN ARE YOU LEFTISTS GONNA QUIT CLOWNING AROUND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE DAMAGE that the Pelosi/Reid/Obama revolution is doing to this country????

HELL YEAH --- I'm angry.. I'm TRULY PISSED... I'm uncharacteristically PISSED OFF.. It's like watching a fucking train wreck...

Heck I might be mad enough to forgo my concience vote for Gary Johnson and just pull the lever for a Republican just to run up the numbers. For me -- that's TERMINALLY PISSED.

 

[Caducus]

Forgive the newbee for interjecting but the medical device excise tax is still going to apply to devices sold in the US, moving the manufacturing oversees just frees them from the portion of their production that isn't sold here. If its cheaper to make and ship some of these devices here, then it is to pay the 2.3% then the issue isn't this tax, its everything else that causes higher manufacturing costs. Don't blame Obama for this, its just shrewd business on Cook Medical's part, they could still make a profit staying in the US but the margin is bigger elsewhere. In this case the company has a transparent reason to raise the price, I wouldn't be surprised if they raise the price across the board, and take that 2.3% in increased cash when a device is not sold in the US and pocket it. I think the company sees a way to make a bigger profit, and a scapegoat for not creating new jobs in the US at the same time.

 

[WillowTree]

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.


Read more: Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax | Fox News







Say bye bye to a bunch of new jobs and some much needed equipments. wow you are so awesome obummer so freakin awesome.

Faux News.

you're certifiable.

 

[RoadVirus]

As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.
Maybe someone should have read it after all.

Remember what Nutty Nancy said: "We have to pass the bill to find out what's in it"

 

[Mr. H.]

Forgive the newbee for interjecting but the medical device excise tax is still going to apply to devices sold in the US, moving the manufacturing oversees just frees them from the portion of their production that isn't sold here. If its cheaper to make and ship some of these devices here, then it is to pay the 2.3% then the issue isn't this tax, its everything else that causes higher manufacturing costs. Don't blame Obama for this, its just shrewd business on Cook Medical's part, they could still make a profit staying in the US but the margin is bigger elsewhere. In this case the company has a transparent reason to raise the price, I wouldn't be surprised if they raise the price across the board, and take that 2.3% in increased cash when a device is not sold in the US and pocket it. I think the company sees a way to make a bigger profit, and a scapegoat for not creating new jobs in the US at the same time.

If our government is so hard up for cash, why don't they slap a 2.3% fee on the imported devices. Cook Medical would build their plants here and employ people here. The issue IS the tax, which has far reaching consequences. Obama is to blame.

 

[chanel]

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.


Read more: Indiana company scraps plans for expansion over ObamaCare device tax | Fox News







Say bye bye to a bunch of new jobs and some much needed equipments. wow you are so awesome obummer so freakin awesome.

Faux News.

This is from the liberal rag known as the Newark Star Ledger.

Benjamin Zycher, an economist with the nonprofit Pacific Research Institute, estimates the device tax will precipitate an industrywide roll-back in new product investment of 10 percent through 2020 — or about a $2 billion decrease every year the tax is in force. Less investment, of course, means a slowdown in medical progress. The tax won’t just harm medical progress, however.

One study from economists at the Manhattan Institute estimates the tax could wipe out up to 43,000 jobs — and more than $3.5 billion in employee compensation.

Medical device firms aren’t waiting for the tax to kick in to prepare for its impact. They’re already cutting jobs, at least in part, because of the tax. Michigan-based Stryker Corp. recently laid off 1,000 employees. Cook Medical, America’s biggest family-owned device manufacturer, canceled plans to build one new factory in the United States every year. And in Indiana, Zimmer is trimming its workforce by 450 people.

U.S. tax on medical devices a huge burden | NJ.com

Of course the Obama team claims that all the new enrollees in Medicaid will be running out to buy their defibrullators and prosthetic legs which will offset the tens of billions lost.

That's if they can find a doctor who will see them.

 

[Caducus]

If our government is so hard up for cash, why don't they slap a 2.3% fee on the imported devices. Cook Medical would build their plants here and employ people here. The issue IS the tax, which has far reaching consequences. Obama is to blame.

The tax does apply to imports as well, it will apply regardless of where the device is created. The companies have mechanisms to increase the price of their devices, to cover all or part of the cost of this new fee. So they can chose to raise their price to cover some or all of the tax, and build their factories here, they simply chose to chase the profit margin and blame the policy.

 

[chanel]

"Chase the profit margin"? Isn't that companies are supposed to do?

As far as I know, Medicaid and Medicare will only pay a certain amount for medical devices. Will they be raising their reimbursement rate 2.3%? Or will the cost be passed along to those of us who pay for our insurance at an even higher rate?

 

[Katzndogz]

The less money a company makes, the less it can pay their employees. The left believes that all companies should be non profit.

 

[chanel]

Yep. And the less it makes, the less tax revenue is generated. Eventually, the govt. will run out of other people's money. See Greece.

 

[Caducus]

"Chase the profit margin"? Isn't that companies are supposed to do?

As far as I know, Medicaid and Medicare will only pay a certain amount for medical devices. Will they be raising their reimbursement rate 2.3%? Or will the cost be passed along to those of us who pay for our insurance at an even higher rate?

That's making a few assumptions that Medicare and Medicaid are the primary insurance companies that use their devices, which I cant figure out from the outside. The ones who would "pass the cost" to us would be hospitals, since they actually buy the device and resell to the patient as part of the treatment process. From a layman's perspective the one thing Obama care does is give additional people, who sometimes never paid their, medical bills insurance so the hospital has fewer non paying customers, so hospitals should see an increase in reimbursements.

I honestly think that either way this company will raise the price to account for this excise tax, and keep their profit margin neutral for US sales, and possibly increase it for sales outside the US. No one expects them to work for nothing ...

 

[Navy1960]

While I do understand that some of the provisions in the ACA are good and could have been passed with wide support such as the "pre-existing condition" provision and others. What I don't seem to understand is the logic applied in a tax on medical devices as a means of funding. If the intent of the bill is to cover more people and deliver medical care to more people as well as lower costs then this method seems a strange way to go about it. It would seem that a medical device company would simply pass along the costs of this new tax to their customers, i.e. the hostpitals, doctors, etc. who in turn will pass them along to the patients which will then be passes to the insurance companies, and if they are taxpayer funded the costs will be in the form of more debt and more spending to cover that cost.

The company in question here like every company that decides to go offshore although they have every right to do so, in my humble opinion should then lose the benefits accorded to American companies in the tax code , such as allowable deductions. Frankly we should be giving American businesses like this one tax cuts for doing business here, medical and otherwise not imposing a tax on them that has a questionable benefit. I am also of the opinion that if this company is working on such small margins that a rise in cost of 2.3% will force them to move new facilities overseas then suffer the same tax when they bring it back here, seems more than a little suspect. That said as I mentioned above any healthcare bill that is focused on lowering costs on the front end and not at the delivery point is going to have questionable results.

 

[flacaltenn]

"Chase the profit margin"? Isn't that companies are supposed to do?

As far as I know, Medicaid and Medicare will only pay a certain amount for medical devices. Will they be raising their reimbursement rate 2.3%? Or will the cost be passed along to those of us who pay for our insurance at an even higher rate?

That's making a few assumptions that Medicare and Medicaid are the primary insurance companies that use their devices, which I cant figure out from the outside. The ones who would "pass the cost" to us would be hospitals, since they actually buy the device and resell to the patient as part of the treatment process. From a layman's perspective the one thing Obama care does is give additional people, who sometimes never paid their, medical bills insurance so the hospital has fewer non paying customers, so hospitals should see an increase in reimbursements.

I honestly think that either way this company will raise the price to account for this excise tax, and keep their profit margin neutral for US sales, and possibly increase it for sales outside the US. No one expects them to work for nothing ...

What part of an "AFFORDABLE CARE ACT" finances itself by raising the cost of every item in the medical inventory??? This is madness.

Medicare reimbursements are the de facto standards for reimbursement.. Negotiation between other Insurance regimes and providers START with Medicare codes and reimbursements and go from there.

A large part of my business is developing medical devices. I'll tell why my clients are leaving this county. It's because govt already WRECKED the marketplace here.

I sat in meeting years ago to discuss a new intelligient metered nebulizer to deliver C.F. drugs. After an hour or so, I realized that NONE of the marketing guys had mentioned what it should COST! So I asked --- and they LAUGHED.. Turns out that because Medicare defines that C.F. treatment reimbursement as an OUTPATIENT routine, they could charge OUTRAGEOUS prices for something that could be used AT HOME and would have normally revolutionized the cost of care. Essentially I was told "not to worry about cost"...

THIS -- is what has happened to medical costs. It's a BRAINDEAD bureaucratic bungle of regulations and price structures with unintended consequences of STIFFLING innovation to bring down costs.

That and FDA restrictions that don't allow companies to IMPROVE existing products without going thru another multi-million dollar round of full approval.. And the flock of vulture lawyers just sitting on sidelines waiting for an opportunity to turn statistics into cash.

No wonder my clients want to serve and develop OTHER world markets. This one is totally fucked by govt..