[Image courtesy of the White House]
Those were two of the major takeaways among nearly 100 MDO and MassDevice readers responding to an online survey.
There are major questions to ask about how America’s new leaders will shape the medical device industry. (Here are 5 big questions.)
Here are the results of the survey, along with some comments from readers:
What should be the medical device industry’s top priority with the Trump administration and Republican Congress?
- 37%—Permanent repeal of the medical device tax
- 30%—Minimize industry disruption from ACA repeal.
- 14%—Minimize industry disruption from changes to trade policy.
- 12%—Reforming FDA
- 7%—Other issues
Other responses included…
“Actually caring about the people whose access to health care will be affected”
“Payment reform”
“Continued healthcare availability”
“Minimize disruption to patient.”
“Be clear on any changes and explain why.”
“Providing healthcare to all Americans.”
What should be done about Obamacare?
- 45%—Reforms that ensure stability
- 31%—Repeal and replace.
- 19%—Keep it mostly the same.
- 5%—Just repeal it.
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Frame all discussions in keeping with, ‘First, do no harm.'”
“Go back to how things were before. Insurance costs are way too high now.”
“Efforts should be taken to ensure continued healthcare coverage to those currently covered by the ACA, with an additional effort to provide coverage to areas with minimal access. Loss of healthcare coverage to millions of people may negatively impact device use and sales.”
“Let the free market reign.”
“Many of the ideas that make up Obamacare came from Republicans. They are so bent on politics they don’t care about protecting Americans.”
How do you think the Trump administration and Republican Congress will affect medtech?
- 42%—Good for medtech
- 33%—Bad for medtech
- 17%—Things stay the same.
- 8%—Doesn’t matter.
“Very hard to tell—but they are both industry friendly, so what hurts patient may not hurt medtech.”
“Efforts to repeal (and replace) the ACA, if not written and implemented carefully, may result in decreased coverage and/or increased premiums/deductibles for those insured under ACA plans or those that may be covered under a replacement program. Increases in individual costs or decreases in coverage may negatively impact device sales. Additionally, current effort and dialog regarding domestic manufacturing and the potential for increased import tariffs may have negative impacts on the med-tech industry as facilities cannot be readily relocated to the U.S. If such tariffs were enacted, either the costs would need to be absorbed by the company or passed on to the customer.”
“Too early to tell. FDA reform is necessary for medtech to thrive. Also ,we need a healthy venture captial industry which will drive new company formation and that will drive new innovation in medtech.”
“Some good, some bad, overall it will have a different impact than a traditional administration—not necessarily better or worse.”
“He will help big business get bigger while the poor reeks his havoc!”
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