Allentown, PA – This morning in Pittsburgh, U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey met with health care leaders in the medical device field to discuss a disturbing provision in the new, Joe Sestak-approved health care law.

A new 2.3% tax, which is estimated to cost industry manufacturers $20 billion in new taxes over the next decade, will be levied on these companies, regardless of whether they generate a profit or not. This fact will prove devastating to an industry extremely important both to Pennsylvania as a source of job creation and also to many patients whose lives are saved and improved because of the industry’s work.

“These companies work day in and day out to develop life-saving technology that increases the quality of life for millions of Americans, but once again, Joe Sestak falls back on his liberal instincts and votes for billions in higher taxes,” said former small business owner and U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey.

Pennsylvania employs over 22,000 workers in the medical device industry (only 3 other states employ more people in this field). But these numbers will fall dramatically if the right kind of economic environment for these vital, life-saving companies is stunted by the billions in new taxes included in Joe Sestak’s health care bill.

The facts are simple. Joe Sestak and his liberal, Washington allies have time and again overpromised and under-delivered. To make matters worse, Sestak still wants us to believe that the government-run health care bill he supported (H.R. 3590, CQ Vote #165) will make our health care system cheaper and run better, even though scores of independent data and reports have shown this claim to be false.
The Democrats’ Claim:
Joe Sestak’s government-run health care bill will not raise taxes on the middle class and small businesses.
The Truth:
? The Joint Committee on Taxation found that Sestak’s government-run health care bill will increase taxes on the middle class by $3.9 billion in 2019 alone. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also found that the medical device tax, pharmaceutical fees, and excise tax will be passed on to consumers (CMS, 04/22/10) (The Hill, 04/12/10).

The Democrats’ Claim:
Health care costs will not rise.
 
The Truth:
? According to the Congressional Budget Office and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the health care bill will do nothing to control health care costs and will actually cause health care costs to skyrocket (CBO, 05/28/10) (CMS, 04/22/10).

The Democrats’ Claim:
Joe Sestak and his Democratic allies claim that if you like you current health care coverage, you can keep it.
The Truth:
? According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and President Obama’s own Department of Health and Human Services, millions will lose their coverage because of the Sestak’s government-run health care bill.  Former CBO director Doug Holtz-Eakin also said that the health care legislation will encourage employers to drop their current insurance plans for as many as 35 million Americans (CBO, 03/18/10) (CMS, 04/22/10) (Federal Register, 06/17/10) (American Action Forum, May 2010).
Joe Sestak has tried time and again to sell Pennsylvania voters a bill of goods. But it’s clear that voters are overwhelmingly rejecting Congressman Sestak’s rubberstamp support for President Obama’s reckless tax-and-spend policies in Washington. They just aren’t buying what Sestak’s selling.