Messer Continues Push for Repeal of Medical Device Tax in Government Funding Bill

U.S. Rep. Luke Messer (IN-06) today renewed his push to repeal Obamacare’s medical device tax as negotiations over government funding continue in Congress.

Lawmakers must reach a spending deal before Friday’s deadline to keep the government running. Messer is fighting to ensure a repeal of Obamacare’s medical device tax is included in any funding bill.

The medical device tax was passed as part of Obamacare and imposes an excise tax on all medical device sales. In 2015, Congress voted to delay the tax for two years and it went back into effect the first of the year.“Obamacare’s medical device tax prevents Indiana companies from innovating, expanding, and hiring in communities all over our state,” Messer said. “This is a bad tax for Hoosiers, and it needs to be repealed. We have an opportunity to do that in this funding bill, and Indiana’s workers need us to act.”

Messer is an original cosponsor of Rep. Jackie Walorski’s (IN-02) legislation, H.R. 4617, which suspends the medical device tax for five years. He has consistently advocated for the tax’s repeal.

Medical device companies employ roughly 20,000 people in Indiana, second in the nation only to California.