Dec 4 2009
"Leading makers of antiwrinkle drugs, breast implants and other appearance-related products are trying to derail a proposed tax on elective cosmetic surgery in the Senate's health-overhaul bill," The Wall Street Journal reports. "The proposed 5% levy -- dubbed the 'Botax' after the antiwrinkle treatment product Botox -- would raise an estimated $5.8 billion over 10 years."
The tax proposal has raised the ire of the cosmetic surgery industry. "Two leading companies in aesthetic treatments, Allergan Inc. and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., are mounting lobbying and public-relations campaigns against the proposed levy. ... [The Botax proposal] was a last-minute addition to the Senate health bill. It was aimed at plugging a revenue gap after Sen. Reid scaled back a planned levy on high-value insurance plans. The Botax would generate relatively modest revenue compared with other measures in the bill" (Rockoff, 12/4).
Related KHN story: Plastic Surgeons Cry Foul Over 'Botax' Proposal In Senate Health Bill (Galewitz, 11/19)
 This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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