Plastic surgeons shriek as Democrats consider an excise tax on elective cosmetic procedures to raise funds for health reform
The tax is just one of many ways the Senate bill aims to raise $6 billion to help pay for the $848 billion plan, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates would lower federal deficits by $130 billion over 10 years. The tax in the Senate bill would apply only to surgical procedures that qualify as "not necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or disfiguring disease." Doctors and health centers would collect the funds from patients and send them to Uncle Sam.
More than 12 million surgical and nonsurgical (minimally invasive) cosmetic procedures were performed in the U.S. in 2008, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Total spending on those procedures totaled $10.3 billion, with nearly half—$5 billion—deemed reconstructive procedures. Cosmetic procedures that are not elective would not be subject to the Senate bill's tax.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his fellow Democrats now face the task of gathering enough votes in the Senate, though the final bill could emerge without the proposed tax on elective cosmetic surgery. While it's unclear if the tax has any particular broad support in Congress, it helps Democrats raise funds to help pay for the bill. "This is an environment where they need as much money as possible—everything is on the table," says Daniel Clifton, a Washington-based policy analyst at Strategas Research Partners. The first vote on the Senate bill is expected on Nov. 21, Reid said Thursday.
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4 comments:
If you have the money for cosmetic surgery you can afford a tax.
These bastards will tax anything that moves.
That should cause Hilary and Pelosi a pretty penny.
if they can tax my beer, then they can tax your nose job.
For once, a tax that doesn't hit the middle class that I can support. Anyone that can afford these operations can certainly afford an extra 5% to help those that can't afford potentially life saving operations.
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