Medical Device Makers Tax Addressed by U.S. Senate Candidate Scott Brown

U.S Senate candidate Scott Brown, on a visit to ZOLL last week, promised he'd try to kill the proposed 10-year tax on medical device makers contained in the Senate's healthcare reform package. "I can stop the bill and bring it back to the drawing board," Brown told MassDevice.

Depending on the final language of a healthcare reform bill, ZOLL’s share of the proposed new tax on medical devices could be in the $5 to $10 million range, while profits for 2009 were reported at $9.5 million

 The Boston Business Journal reports that ZOLL believes that the likelihood of a reduction in the Massachusetts-based manufacturing and engineering workforce, along with much greater healthcare cost sharing by all employees, would be very real. Scott Brown is in favor of reworking the pending healthcare reform bills in order to help companies like ZOLL to maintain profits and preserve jobs in Massachusetts and throughout the U.S.  ZOLL has over 1,500 employees, and nearly 800 work in Massachusetts.

ZOLL CEO Rick Packer stated last year that he was strongly opposed to taxing medical device makers to pay for healthcare reform.