Taxing Grandma's Wheelchair - Making Money off the Sick and Disabled?

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Obama is fond of disputing the accusation that he wants to "pull the plug on Grandma". But one way of paying for this health care overhaul involves just that - well, pulling the plug on her motorized wheelchair, anyway. The Baucus bill includes a way to make $40 billion in taxes to help fund the health care plan - taxing necessary medical devices. Have a look at the list of devices that now will face taxation: * Pacemakers * Hip joint replacements * Gastrointestinal tubes * Artificial hearts * Hearing aids * Porcelain teeth * Heart defibrillators * Prosthetic heart valve rotators * Powered wheelchairs * Ventilators "Groups like the Medical Device Manufacturer's Association said that the tax would hurt them, as well as those who need medical devices. "Virtually all medical device providers would be affected," Thomas Novelli, the director of federal affairs at the Medical Device Manufacturer's Association, told FOXNews.com. "Ultimately, the costs associated with this tax are going to be passed on to consumers [because] producers will have to raise prices on their products." People on both sides of the political aisle find this tax to be unacceptable. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., wrote in a letter to Baucus that the tax "will seriously threaten thousands of American jobs and deter innovation." There are "many other ways to save money in health care," he said. Rick Tyler, a spokesman for Newt Gingrich, said that the bill's impact on consumers meant it would break Obama's promise not to raise taxes on ordinary Americans "for about the fourth time." If the point of the health care reform is to LOWER health care costs and make more care available to the poor and the needy, how does it make sense to make necessary medical devices and replacement parts for the disabled more costly? The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the Baucus plan will need $354 billion in new taxes and $409 billion in Medicare reductions to fund it. I don't know about you, but for someone who is disabled or in need of specialty medical devices and is also on Medicare, how can they possibly hope to receive the medical care they deserve or can afford?