The bill would exempt Class I devices and devicemakers with less than $5 million a year in revenues from the fees, while fees for device firms with $5 million to $25 million in revenues would be half the rate of larger firms.
In another recent skirmish over the fees, Mass Device reported that the Finance Committee voted down an amendment last week to remove the fee entirely — with all 13 Democrats on the panel voting against it while the amendment’s author, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), was joined by nine other Republicans voting for it.
None of the other reform bills in the Senate and the House propose a fee for devicemakers, but the White House reportedly supports the fee.
The WSJ reports that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the committee, was "troubled" that AdvaMed, the trade group for the larger device manufacturers, didn’t offer his committee concessions on fee payments this summer, as did trade groups representing the pharmaceutical and hospital industries.
Read the Wall Street Journal‘s report on the medical device fee.
