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Feb. 8, 2013
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Jewish World Review
Nov. 3, 2009 / 16 Mar-Cheshvan 5770
Health Care Overhaul IV: This Time, It's Personal
By
Mona Charen
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I labeled it "Health Care Overhaul IV" for convenience. In fact, a new
2,000-page behemoth seems to emerge more than once a week from the maw
of Congress, so it's becoming impossible to keep track.
Until now, my reasons for opposing this fright mask were entirely
dispassionate and flowed from 1) common sense (how are they going to
provide more care for less money, and can we afford another huge
entitlement when existing ones are going bankrupt?); 2) experience
(government entitlements always cost far more than
projections and government is far less efficient at providing services
than the private sector); and 3) philosophy (the way to reduce prices is
to increase competition not reduce it). But now the proposals being
considered will hit my family particularly hard. This time, it's
personal.
In order to pay for its new entitlement, the Senate Finance Committee
bill (Baucus) proposes to tax medical device manufacturers $40 billion
over the next 10 years. To the average person, medical device
manufacturers may not mean much. They produce heart monitors, stents,
and pacemakers.
They also produce insulin pumps. My 16-year-old son, who has had Type I
diabetes (an autoimmune disease distinct from Type II) since the age of
9, depends on a pump to live a reasonably normal life. If he didn't have
an insulin pump a device the size of a cell phone that delivers
insulin through a tube directly under his skin he would be required
to give himself as many as four injections a day, as he did before he
got the pump. And his life expectancy would be shorter.
In just the six years since David began using the pump, the technology
has improved markedly. Whereas he used to have to insert the catheter
(which must be changed every three days) with a 2-inch needle, he now
uses a much less painful spring-operated inserter. The programming has
become more sophisticated as well. The pump can now deliver carefully
calibrated doses for high-carb foods like pizza and ice cream foods
that are otherwise parlous for diabetics to enjoy and the pump is
preset with carb counts for many common foods.
Insulin pumps provide better blood sugar control than other diabetes
treatments. But they are far from perfect. Even careful users will
frequently experience highs (which increase the likelihood of long-term
complications like heart disease and blindness) and lows (which can be
immediately life-threatening).
Yes, we families with Type I pray for a cure. But the recent progress in
technology has offered really tantalizing possibilities. Medical device
manufacturers have recently debuted a new technology that is key to the
health of Type I diabetics continuous glucose monitors. These provide
24/7 data on the patient's blood sugar to supplement the six daily
finger sticks. Eventually, the combination of these two technologies
the insulin pump and the continuous glucose monitor could provide the
Holy Grail for Type I diabetics: an artificial pancreas. The AP would
keep blood glucose at normal or near normal levels and thus prevent
worst effects of diabetes. We've heard estimates that the technology may
become available within five years.
Unless the medical device industry is hit with a major tax.
While the U.S. leads the world in medical technology, most device makers
are not huge conglomerates, but smaller companies already hurting in
this recession. According to the Advanced Medical Technology
Association, the industry consists of about 6,000 companies, most of
which earn less than $100 million annually. The chief executive of B.
Braun Medical, which makes pain control devices, told the Washington
Post that paying his share of the new tax would "exceed my research and
development budget." The $4 billion annual tax would represent about 40
percent of the industry's outlay for research and development ($9.6
billion).
If this tax is enacted, medical device manufacturers will cut back
drastically on R and D, and may have to lay off employees. In addition,
they will charge higher prices for their products to compensate for the
money confiscated by Washington. Since health insurance plans frequently
cover half or more of the cost of these already expensive products,
health insurance rates would have to rise as well. This is just one more
example of the ways health care costs would be driven up, not down, by
the Democrats' reforms.
As for David, he will see the prospect of an artificial pancreas his
greatest hope for a healthier and longer life recede over the
horizon.
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