“The House bill includes about $20 billion in fees over 10 years for medical device manufacturers.”
What does that mean for us?
It also proposes a tax on the users of new medical devices…A pretty hefty tax.
If each pod we throw away is a considered a medical device and by all rights, it is. Then Insulet could be put in a very difficult position. The purpose of the company is to make a profit, and if they can’t pass the cost along to the consumers within a reasonable amount…Well, follow the logic. People who love other pump and hate Omnipod always speak of a new technology as an “Omnipod Killer”. It looks like the true “Omnipod Killer”, most likely will be our own government.
Tammy,
Do you have any references about that? The reading I’ve done only talks about the “was-$40B-now-$20B” cost to the manufacturers (which we’d be naive to think they won’t pass on to users), but I’ve seen nothing about a potential consumer-level tax. I’d like to read about it…
I’d like to invite all of you to join the US Healthcare Reform discussion group here on TuDiabetes.
This discussion might be better suited for that arena, as it is an area where political discussion is not only allowed, but encouraged.
Melissa, I couldn’t agree with you more. This website has been invaluable to me as a relatively new Omnipod user. You and many many others have made a difference for me in assuring my experience would be a positive one. I am very much appreciative. However, politicizing this website when there are so some many other forums that would welcome political discusion, is discouraging.
Offering information about changes in private insurance policy coverage and experience in obtaining benefits can be most helpful. However, long political diatribes backed up by a lot of pick and choose news articles is not what I want to see or read on this site. This should be stopped very quickly!
I began this discussion not a a political debate but to get information. I am not well versed in the insurance aspect of diabetes devices and supplies. As an omnipod user, my biggest concern was and still is how this proposed bill will effect us. We throw away our “medical device” every three days. I am concerned that this bill might hit omnipod users more than other insulin pumpers.
Agreed. This topic is definitely more relevant to OmniPod users than the general diabetes audience. I hope some 'Poders contribute to the other discussion, but this one is just as important, IMO.
I think it is fine for this discussion to continue in the Omnipod users group because of the multiple-device issue being relevant to podders, guys. We just have to remember (and I will remind you here as lead administrator) to keep it from becoming politicized and keep any specifically partisan political attacks out. We have a strict no-politics policy in our terms of use and our team will uphold it. We watch threads like this to make sure that exchanges stay productive and on topic.
That being said, I’m a podder and am interested in seeing how these changes would apply to us.
Thank you Melissa. So everybody needs to keep the elephants and donkeys out of the comment boxes.
LOL. Why do I picture little critters trapped in here now?