I never understood why Obamacarians taxed durable medical equipment as part of the package. I mean, if you want to cut medical costs, wouldn’t a new tax increase prices? Unless, you want to inhibit access to these treatment modalities...but Obamacarians are sooo compass—sss—ionate, so that can’t be right. Can it?
In any event, a maker of artificial hips is cutting its work force to prepare for the coming loss of business caused by the tax. From the Detroit Free Press:
Stryker, the Kalamazoo-based maker of artificial hips and knees, will cut 5% of its global workforce by the end of next year to reduce costs in the face of new fees on device makers required by the U.S. health care law. The job cuts will reduce annual pretax operating costs by more than $100 million beginning in 2013, when the medical-device excise tax is scheduled to take effect, Stryker said Thursday in a statement. Stryker had more than 20,000 employees as of Dec. 31, according to Bloomberg News data.
Ah, what’s 1000 jobs between friends? I mean, it’s not like we are in a bad economy. These, days, jobs grow on trees!
