New tax will bump up medical supply prices

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - Patients who rely on medical devices like hearing aids and insulin pumps may start seeing the price of these items go up.

It's all part of a new tax placed on medical device manufacturers included in the Affordable Care Act.

President and CEO of Cook Mark Bleyer said the Indiana-based business is starting to feel the effects of the 2.3 percent increase that went into effect this year.

Cook manufactures more than 15,000 medical devices.

Bleyer says because of the new tax, Cook companies have put some upcoming projects on hold.

“The trouble is, in research and development, you never know which one of those ideas is going to come out and become that real breakthrough,” Bleyer said. “So as you start to pursue fewer of them, your opportunities, your chances of possibly hitting that breakthrough, really go down, and again, that's a problem for a company, but I think it's going to be a problem for American health care.”

Bleyer says the price of medical devices may increase due to the cost of producing them, affecting the thousands of people who rely on them every day.