Dick Cheney
Photo: Tom Benitez - Pool/Getty Images
Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, a vocal critic of the medical device excise tax (MedTech tax), died Nov. 3 at the age of 84.
The MedTech tax, which was enacted in 2013 and repealed in 2019, was a 2.3% tax on medical devices.
The tax applied to MRI machines, pacemakers and surgical equipment, but not necessarily to retail items such as eyeglasses, contact lenses and hearing aids.
Cheney had a history of cardiac disease. He had several heart attacks, a heart transplant as well as stents and a pacemaker.
In a speech at the National Press Club in Washington in 2013, Cheney called a tax on medical devices one of "the dumbest ideas."
"I feel very strongly about it. I'm literally walking around proof of how great and how innovative our healthcare system has been. ... but I just think it's an example of how ill-conceived parts of this program are."
The 2.3% medical device tax imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA; P.L. 111-148) in 2010 was one of several revenue-raising provisions to finance health reform.
Proponents of the tax said that it was justified for its revenue, which was aimed at helping offset the cost of the ACA.
In an article published in Medical Design & Outsourcing, Cheney said the MedTech tax "levy slows down innovations of the type that have saved his life time and again."
Cheney died from complications of pneumonia and cardiovascular disease.
