This week, Congressman Mike Turner (OH-10) reintroduced the First Responder Medical Device Tax Relief Act and the Student Job Protection Act, designed to mitigate detrimental policies imposed by the Affordable Care Act. 

“Ensuring the availability of quality, affordable health care throughout the country and our community remains one of my top priorities. However, harmful policies dictated by the flawed Obamacare law continue to burden much of our health care system and infrastructure,” Turner said. “These bills are specific steps we can take to fix at least two of Obamacare’s many problematic provisions that discourage innovation and increase costs. I will continue to push for common sense reforms like these to provide relief for people and groups that have been directly and negatively impacted by this deeply flawed health care law.”

The First Responder Medical Device Tax Relief Act would permanently exempt critical medical devices used by our first responders and emergency medical personnel from Obamacare’s excise tax on medical devices. The bill would halt a tax penalty that can: 1) discourage innovation and development of new, life-saving medical equipment, and 2) force manufacturers to increase the costs of medical devices in order to pay for the tax penalty.

The Student Job Protection Act would ensure that full-time students working at their colleges or universities are able to pursue and maintain job opportunities that help them afford the cost of their education. As a result of Obamacare’s mandate that certain employers must supply health insurance to employees working 30 hours or more a week or pay a tax, some colleges and universities have been forced to restrict work hours for students with jobs. This targeted bill will help remove these needless restrictions and allow students to finance the costs of their education if they wish to work on-campus.

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