Word of the day: Onerous
ONEROUS (DEFINITION): Unreasonable, oppressive, or cruel, or excessively trying condition, duty, or task whose disadvantages or costs outweigh its advantages or benefits.
Let's use onerous in a sentence:
"Last year, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation repealing the tax, and I'm confident we'll do so again," (Rep. Erik) Paulsen said in a statement. "Now it's time for the U.S. Senate to follow the House's lead, vote to repeal this onerous tax, and ensure the continued leadership of American medical device manufacturing."
Rep. Paulsen has used many words to describe the Medical Device Task, none of them complimentary. But to use "onerous" as his newest adjective is another stretch.
What is especially inconsistent is that Paulsen's remedy via his House Republican colleagues is to repeal the tax and replace its $30 billion in revenue with cuts to the health care subsidies which will allow the uninsured to get affordable care.
In other words, another indirect attack on the Affordble Care Act. Because Medical Device manufacturers have a large presence in Minnesota, Paulsen has been able to convince the Minnesota delegation that this "onerous" tax is hurting this industry.
But in what way? What is the "onerous" result? After all, the tax is in effect. It has been since January 1st. Outside of layoffs that were already planned from last year for these companies, where are the cutbacks?
What is particularly interesting is the results of this survey done by the Emergo Group analyzing the outlook of the industry itself:
The 2013 Medical Device Industry Survey was conducted in January 2013, with a total of 3,509 respondents. Only one response per person was allowed. Survey questions were emailed to an in-house list maintained by Emergo Group. A publicly available online link to the survey also solicited responses from industry via social media channels.
Due to the nature of our business, QA/RA professionals make up a much higher percentage of respondents than they would otherwise represent in the industry. Some results should be interpreted bearing this in mind.
Question: When you think about the overall business environment for the medical device industry, which statement best describes your personal outlook for 2013?
Only 12% of the industry has a negative outlook for 2013. 71.1% had a positive outlook. And yes, the Medical Device Tax is currently in effect.
Rep. Paulsen, please tell us what is "onerous" about that?
This post was written David Mindeman and originally published on mnpACT! Progressive Political Blog. Follow Dave on Twitter: @newtbuster.
If you blog and would like your work considered for Minnesota Blog Cabin, please submit our registration form.