Published on September 10, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Roll Call reports that big labs — including ones like Quest Diagnostics — are unhappy with a Senate Finance Committee proposal to increase taxes for labs that perform Medicare services.
The tax would raise $750 million a year to help pay for health care reform. "Although Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) did agree to drop (a) co-payment issue (for beneficiaries), the panel ended up proposing an annual fee, or tax, on the labs, most likely based on each lab's revenue."
A similar backlash is also going on against a proposal to levy $4 billion in annual fees on the medical device industry, Roll Call reports (Ackley, 9/10).