The American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, the Catholic Health Association, and the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association on March 28 urged the Internal Revenue Service to prohibit device companies from passing on to customers the ACA's excise tax on medical devices. "In summary, the IRS should implement the device tax in a manner that recognizes the 'shared responsibility' commitment from a broad group of key health care stakeholders, including medical device companies, to enact long-needed national health reform through passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," the groups wrote.
The letter adds, "As the ACA appears to permit device companies to deduct the tax from their income for federal tax purposes, to allow device companies also to pass through the tax to their customers would permit a financial 'double-dip' that could leave device companies in a better financial position than before the ACA was enacted."
