Senator Toomey on Protecting Pennsylvania Jobs, Repealing Medical

Statement

Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) visited Fujirebio Diagnostics in Malvern today, to discuss how a new tax included in President Obama's health care bill will hurt Pennsylvania job creators.

Under the health care bill, medical device companies will face a 2.3 percent excise tax in 2013. This tax even applies to researchers developing new technologies that have yet to break even on their research costs, penalizing companies pioneering new lifesaving technologies. Not only will the new tax cost Pennsylvania jobs, it will discourage, and perhaps prevent, the development of these critical discoveries.

Pennsylvania is a leader in medical research, with 576 medical device companies employing 22,200 people. Another 80,000 Pennsylvanians work for suppliers and companies that support the medical device industry.

"This tax will cost Pennsylvania's economy $100 million a year,causing job losses and impacting companies' ability to expand and hire. The threat of this tax is discouraging companies both in Pennsylvania and across the United States from growing and planning for their futures, and that uncertainty has to end," Sen. Pat Toomey said. "I met with leaders in the medical device community to learn about the challenges they face, and I'm pleased to announce that I'm co-sponsoring legislation in the Senate that would repeal this job-killing tax. This tax isyet another example of how President Obama's health care bill will hurt American jobs and undermine our economy."

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