How medtech will—and will not—change in 2016How medtech will—and will not—change in 2016

The year ended with some very good news, indeed, for the medical device industry. In mid-December, President Obama signed a $1.8 trillion package of spending and tax cuts that included a two-year suspension of the 2.3% medical device excise tax, which is part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare). It's not the outright repeal of the ACA that Republicans and a handful of Democrats sought, but it could lead to a permanent repeal or, at least, to an endless number of extensions, which is the way business is often conducted at the federal level. Is this the beginning of the end of Obamacare, which Republican candidates for the presidency have vowed to dismantle? That's one question, at least, that will be answered in 2016.