Election Discussion Heats Up on LinkedIn
It’s less than a week before Election Day, and medical technology professionals are engaging in a passionate debate on AAMI’s LinkedIn group on how the presidential race will impact their world.
One of the discussion topics is a 2.3% excise tax on device manufacturers included in Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2010. The tax, intended to help pay for healthcare reform, goes into effect next year.
“I am no finance expert, but I believe that making our medical device manufacturers pay even more taxes will continue to slow growth,” writes John McDonald, support systems analyst at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Virginia.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney promises to repeal healthcare reform. He intends to replace it with “policies that give each state the power to craft a health care reform plan that is best for its own citizens,” according to a position statement on his campaign website.
Some agree with the candidate’s stance.
“The healthcare insurance and coverage laws and restrictions have to be modified by the states, and when the insurance industry is left to the free market system, the industry will right itself,” writes Dave Wayne, CEO of SE Medical Services, a medical equipment sales and service provider in Fayetteville, GA.
Others praise the Affordable Care Act’s extension of coverage to millions of uninsured patients.
“If the Republicans win and repeal it, more patients will be unable to pay and we will have to spend more on billing patients, and spend more in court costs as patients file for bankruptcy,” writes Peter Bobb, who works in sterile processing for Aureus Medical Group in Stockton, CA.
Another commenter thought an Obama defeat would mean uncertainty in the healthcare technology market.
“The current course is somewhat predictable as to where the action is headed,” writes Alford Hardy, owner of Hardy Asset Management Consulting in Savannah, GA. “A change means undoing the reform, then going into a new session of a different type of reform. Not sure if anyone knows what that looks like. Uncertainty comes with that.”
To join the discussion, go to www.linkedin.com and search for “The AAMI Community” under Groups.
AAMI is also on Facebook, Twitter, and has six discussion groups on topics ranging from quality systems to The Joint Commission
Posted: October 31, 2012