Passed with one vote short of a veto-proof majority.
Via Indy Star
The House on Thursday easily backed repeal of a tax on the medical device industry, which has a strong presence in Indiana.
But President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, which would add more than $24 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years.
The chances the bill can win a veto-proof majority in the Senate are uncertain.
With not all House members voting Thursday, that chamber’s 280-140 vote fell one vote shy of a veto-proof majority to repeal the tax, which helps pay for the expansion of health insurance under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Indiana’s two Democrats opposed repeal, and six of the seven Republicans voted for it. Rep. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, did not vote.
Gov. Mike Pence sent the delegation a letter Monday urging representatives to end the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical equipment, such as CT scan machines, pacemakers and artificial hips.
“This industry is vital to Indiana’s economy and the health and well-being of people across the nation and world,” Pence wrote. “Yet because of the medical device tax, research and development have been reduced, expansion plans have been put on hold, and some manufacturers have moved product lines out of the country.”
Pence said the industry employs 20,000 Hoosiers, paying 56 percent more than the average wage in Indiana.
The fees were designed to be a portion of the new profits industries would gain under the ACA from having more customers. But device makers argue that many of the newly insured are younger and healthier and therefore unlikely to need many of their products.