ObamaCare Will Send Jobs to China

September 21, 2012

ObamaCare Will Send Jobs to China

Medical Device Tax Hidden in ObamaCare Will Send Jobs to China and Mexico While Destroying Jobs at Home

  • A New York medical device company recently announced they would have to outsource jobs to Mexico due to ObamaCare’s medical device tax. But they’re not the only ones—the tax will also send jobs to China and India.

  • Job creators repeatedly warned Democrats that this provision of ObamaCare would ship jobs overseas and destroy jobs at home, but Democrats have nonetheless voted four times to keep it in place.

  • Sadly, it’s not the only provision of the government healthcare takeover that could ship jobs overseas.

A New York medical device company recently announced they would have to outsource jobs to Mexico due to ObamaCare’s medical device tax. But they’re not the only ones—the tax will also send jobs to China and India:

STUDY: OBAMACARE MEDICAL DEVICE TAX WILL SEND JOBS TO CHINA AND INDIA: “The United States is the world’s leading exporter of medical devices, and each new industry job adds more than four to the overall U.S. economy. An industry report claims that 43,000 U.S. jobs will be lost because of the tax, many of them to foreign countries such as India and China, where labor, taxes and raw materials are cheaper. That’s more than 10 percent of the nation’s 422,000 medical-device workers.” (Tony Pugh, “Medical Device Makers Push Congress to Repeal Excise Tax,” McClatchy News, 9/22/2011)

COMPANIES LIKELY TO BOTH MOVE EXISTING JOBS OVERSEAS AND CREATE NEW JOBS OVERSEAS: “Jobs can effectively move overseas in two ways. U.S. manufacturers can close plants in the United States and replace them with plants in foreign countries, or locate future job growth abroad rather than in the United States. Alternatively, foreign manufacturers can improve their competitiveness relative to U.S. firms with the result that manufacturing for the American market is increasingly dominated by foreign domiciled companies. Both are likely to occur under the new excise tax.” (Diana and Harold Furchtgott-Roth, “Employment Effects of the New Excise Tax on the Medical Device Industry,” Advamed, September 2011)

“SOME WELCH ALLYN ACCOUNTING JOBS WILL MOVE TO MEXICO”: (Charley Hannagan, “Some Welch Allyn Accounting Jobs Will Move to Mexico,” The Syracuse Post-Standard, 9/11/2012)

275 JOBS, OR 10% OF WORKFORCE, TO BE CUT OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS: (Charley Hannagan, “Some Welch Allyn Accounting Jobs Will Move to Mexico,” The Syracuse Post-Standard, 9/11/2012)

OBAMACARE’S MEDICAL DEVICE TAX IS THE CAUSE FOR THIS OUTSOURCING TO MEXICO: “The moves are meant to prepare Welch Allyn to address the new ‘onerous’ U.S. Medical Device Tax scheduled to take effect next year under the Affordable Care Act, the company said.” (Charley Hannagan, “Some Welch Allyn Accounting Jobs Will Move to Mexico,” The Syracuse Post-Standard, 9/11/2012)

WHAT IS THE “MEDICAL DEVICE TAX”? IT’S A TAX ON CARDIAC DEFIBRILLATORS, BANDAGES, ARTIFICIAL HIPS AND JUST ABOUT ANY OTHER MEDICAL DEVICE:

OBAMACARE’S “HEART ATTACK TAX” WOULD TAX “EVERYTHING FROM CARDIAC DEFIBRILLATORS TO ARTIFICIAL JOINTS TO MRI SCANNERS”: ” ‘Taxmageddon’ isn’t only about the half-trillion-dollar blow to the economy that arrives in 2013 on the end of the Bush-Obama tax rates. Several of the Affordable Care Act’s worst tax increases kick in too, such as the new excise tax on medical devices. The 2.3% levy applies to the sale of everything from cardiac defibrillators to artificial joints to MRI scanners.” (Editorial, “Improvised Explosive Device Tax,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/28/2012)

THE TAX COULD HIT PACEMAKERS, STENTS, ELASTIC BANDAGES, ARTIFICIAL HIPS AND KNEES: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

TAX WILL MEAN “FEWER PAIN-REDUCING AND LIFE-EXTENDING INVENTIONS”: ”So the 2.3 percent tax, unless repealed, will mean not only fewer jobs but also fewer pain-reducing and life-extending inventions — stents, implantable defibrillators, etc. — which have reduced health-care costs.” (George Will, “Taxing Jobs Out of Existence,” The Washington Post, 5/9/2012)

Job creators repeatedly warned Democrats that this provision of ObamaCare would ship jobs overseas and destroy jobs at home, but Democrats have nonetheless voted four times to keep it in place:

DEMOCRATS WERE WARNED REPEATEDLY THAT THE HEART ATTACK TAX WOULD OUTSOURCE JOBS:

MEDICAL INDUSTRY: “TAX WILL STIFLE INNOVATION AND SEND JOBS OVERSEAS”: (Susan Kelly, “Medical Device Tax May Spur Price Hikes, Cost Cuts,” Reuters, 4/18/2012)

JOBS HAVE ALREADY BEEN OUTSOURCED DUE TO THE HEART ATTACK TAX:“Cook Medical is no longer planning to open a U.S. factory a year. Boston Scientific, planning for a more than $100 million charge against earnings in 2013, recently built a $35 million research and development facility in Ireland and is building a $150 million factory in China. (Capital goes where it is welcome and stays where it is well-treated.) Stryker Corp., based in Michigan, blames the tax for 1,000 layoffs. Zimmer, based in Indiana, is laying off 450 and taking a $50 million charge against earnings. Medtronic expects an annual charge against earnings of $175 million.” (George Will, “Taxing Jobs Out of Existence,” The Washington Post, 5/9/2012)

INDIANA COMPANY CANCELLED PLANS TO OPEN FIVE NEW PLANTS DUE TO HEART ATTACK TAX: “Cook Medical Inc. had been planning to open five new manufacturing plants over the next five years in small communities around the Midwest, including Indiana, but has shelved those plans because of the hit it will take from a new U.S. tax on medical devices.” (J.K. Wall, “Cook Medical Shelves Midwest Expansion Plan,” Indiana Business Journal, 7/27/2012)

COMPANY NOW SAYS “THEIR FUTURE GROWTH WILL BE FOCUSED OVERSEAS”: “Since then, Cook officials have said their future growth will be focused overseas. Cook already has production facilities in Ireland, Denmark and Australia.” (J.K. Wall, “Cook Medical Shelves Midwest Expansion Plan,” Indiana Business Journal, 7/27/2012)

MEDICAL DEVICE ASSOCIATION SAID OBAMACARE’S HEART ATTACK TAX COULD FORCE “43,000 JOBS OVERSEAS”: “The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) released a report Wednesday that says device-makers might ship 43,000 jobs overseas once the tax takes effect in 2013.” (Sam Baker, “Device-Makers Say Tax Will Cost 43,000 U.S. Jobs,” The Hill‘s ” Health Watch,” 9/7/2011)

MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANY LEADERS THINK NEW TAX WILL HURT MANUFACTURERS: “Executives in the medical device manufacturing industry predict that a new excise tax and the burden of its related compliance costs will hurt their companies’ bottom lines, according to a survey conducted by KPMG LLP, an audit, tax, and advisory firm.” (Chris Reidy, “KPMG Survey: New Tax Could Hit Medical Device Companies Hard,” The Boston Globe , 4/18/12)

40% MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANY LEADERS EXPECT TO RESORT TO LAYOFFS:“According to the survey of 190 financial executives from the medical device manufacturing industry, 40 percent of respondents said their companies are already contemplating actions such as price increases and cost reductions, including possible layoffs, as a way to stay competitive.” (Chris Reidy, “KPMG Survey: New Tax Could Hit Medical Device Companies Hard,” The Boston Globe , 4/18/12) 

13,303 SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZE MEDICAL DEVICE FIRMS IN U.S., OR 91% OF ALL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES COULD BE AFFECTED: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)

DEMOCRATS HAVE VOTED REPEATEDLY TO KEEP IT IN PLACE:

98% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED IN JAN 2011 AGAINST REPEALING OBAMACARE AND STOPPING IT FROM OUTSOURCING JOBS: (Roll Call 14, Clerk of the U.S. House, 1/19/2011)

96% OF HOUSE DEMS VOTED AGAINST CUTTING OFF FUNDING TO IMPLEMENT OBAMACARE’S OUTSOURCING PROVISIONS: (Roll Call 270, Clerk of the U.S. House, 4/14/2011)

77% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING THE HEART ATTACK TAX THAT COULD  LEAD TO OUTSOURCING: (Roll Call 361, Clerk of the U.S. House, 6/7/2012)

97% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAIN THIS JULY TO PREVENT OBAMACARE REPEAL: (Roll Call 460, Clerk of the U.S. House, 7/11/2012)

Sadly, it’s not the only provision of the government healthcare takeover that could ship jobs overseas:

OBAMACARE’S MEDICAL LOSS RATIO MANDATE COULD FORCE EMPLOYERS TO “MOVE MORE JOBS TO CHEAPER-WAGE COUNTRIES”: “Moreover, the health care reform law could prod insurers to move more jobs to cheaper-wage countries. The new law requires companies to spend 80% to 85% of premiums on medical care, limiting the amount available for administrative expenses.” (Don Lee, “Worries Grow As Health Care Firms Send Jobs Overseas,” Los Angeles Times, 7/25/2012) 

OBAMACARE “MAY BE A CATALYST FOR NEW FORMS OF OUTSOURCING”:“The Affordable Care Act, by increasing the number of people in the health care system and changing the way delivery is funded, may be a catalyst for new forms of outsourcing.” (George Lauer, “Outsourcing May Grow As Health System Evolves,”California Healthline, 8/2/2012)

96% OF DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST DEFUNDING OBAMACARE’S MEDICAL LOSS RATIO PROVISION THAT IS OUTSOURCING JOBS: (Roll Call 110, Clerk of the U.S. House, 2/18/2011)

ObamaCare Will Send Jobs to China http://ow.ly/dSa3t#iwantrepeal