The new tax unveiled Wednesday as part of the recent health care reform bill levies a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic procedures. Plastic surgeons in America have spoken strongly against the proposal, and here are the top 5 reasons they say it should not pass.
- Discriminatory: Women purchase 86 percent of all cosmetic medical procedures in the United States.
- Targets middle class America: In a 2005 survey of people planning cosmetic surgery, 60 percent of the respondents reported incomes of $30,000 to $90,000 a year.
- Could promote medical tourism: Patient safety should always be the “first concern” says ASAPS president Renato Saltz, and that should continue ““for those patients here in this country, as well as those patients who may now be encouraged by this tax to obtain their procedures abroad.”
- Historically ineffective: “Since it passed a 6% tax on elective medical procedures in 2004, the New Jersey Department of Taxation has experienced a 59% shortfall based on projected revenue estimates.”
- Line between reconstructive and cosmetic isn’t always clear: the tax imposes the burden of making clear distinctions between procedures that are medically necessary and simply elective. Who will make these distinctions?
Plastic surgeons belonging to the American Society of Plastic Surgery have been encouraged to log on to capitolconnect.com and make their opposition to this tax known.
Tags: elective surgery tax, taxes
