Labs Grumble Over Co-Pays, New Fees For Medicare Lab Work

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Roll Call reports that big labs - including ones like Quest Diagnostics - are unhappy with a Senate Finance Committee proposal to increase taxes for labs that perform Medicare services.

The tax would raise $750 million a year to help pay for health care reform. "Although Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) did agree to drop (a) co-payment issue (for beneficiaries), the panel ended up proposing an annual fee, or tax, on the labs, most likely based on each lab's revenue."

A similar backlash is also going on against a proposal to levy $4 billion in annual fees on the medical device industry, Roll Call reports (Ackley, 9/10).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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