In case you were not aware, recently, as part of the new health care bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week, a new 5% tax has been implemented on all elective cosmetic surgeries (regardless if they are covered by insurance OR NOT).
This tax applies to all cosmetic surgeries that are "performed by a licensed medical professional" and "is not necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or disfiguring disease."
In other words, this tax "shall be paid by the individual on whom the procedure is performed" period!
This tax is effective January 1, 2010. Yep, it has been put into effect as of three months ago. So if you had any "elective" surgery in 2010, you'll probably be getting a call from your doctor looking for some additional cash. Nice isn't it?
It wasn't enough that these surgeries were deemed as unnecessary and something insurance companies wouldn't cover, now they're reaching back into our wallet for more...
Obviously, this isn't a political blog, so I'll save you a long drawn out rant. But let's just say, I disagree with this new tax, and find it just a bit unfair that this new tax would be assessed on procedures that are not usually even covered by traditional health insurance anyway. And therefore, have nothing to do with the cost of "health care" in this country.
But one way or another, the price of (elective) cosmetic surgeries in the United States just went up.
If you would like to know ore about this, you can read the entire bill here, otherwise, I've posted the section on cosmetic surgery for you below:
Pg. 2004
18 SEC. 9017. EXCISE TAX ON ELECTIVE COSMETIC
19 PROCEDURES
20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of the Internal Revenue
21 Code of 1986, as amended by this Act, is amended by add-
22 ing at the end the following new chapter:
23 ‘‘CHAPTER 49—ELECTIVE COSMETIC
24 MEDICAL PROCEDURES
‘‘Sec. 5000B. Imposition of tax on elective cosmetic medical procedures.
HR 3590 EAS/PP
Pg. 2005
1 ‘‘SEC. 5000B. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON ELECTIVE COSMETIC
2 MEDICAL PROCEDURES.
3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby imposed on any
4 cosmetic surgery and medical procedure a tax equal to 5
5 percent of the amount paid for such procedure (determined
6 without regard to this section), whether paid by insurance
7 or otherwise.
8 ‘‘(b) COSMETIC SURGERY AND MEDICAL PROCE-
9 DURE.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘cosmetic sur-
10 gery and medical procedure’ means any cosmetic surgery
11 (as defined in section 213(d)(9)(B)) or other similar proce-
12 dure which—
13 ‘‘(1) is performed by a licensed medical profes-
14 sional, and
15 ‘‘(2) is not necessary to ameliorate a deformity
16 arising from, or directly related to, a congenital ab-
17 normality, a personal injury resulting from an acci-
18 dent or trauma, or disfiguring disease.
19 ‘‘(c) PAYMENT OF TAX.—
20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The tax imposed by this sec-
21 tion shall be paid by the individual on whom the pro-
22 cedure is performed.
23 ‘‘(2) COLLECTION.—Every person receiving a
24 payment for procedures on which a tax is imposed
25 under subsection (a) shall collect the amount of the
26 tax from the individual on whom the procedure is
HR 3590 EAS/PP
Pg. 2006
1 performed and remit such tax quarterly to the Sec-
2 retary at such time and in such manner as provided
3 by the Secretary.
4 ‘‘(3) SECONDARY LIABILITY.—Where any tax im-
5 posed by subsection (a) is not paid at the time pay-
6 ments for cosmetic surgery and medical procedures
7 are made, then to the extent that such tax is not col-
8 lected, such tax shall be paid by the person who per-
9 forms the procedure.’’.
10 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters for
11 subtitle D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended
12 by this Act, is amended by inserting after the item relating
13 to chapter 48 the following new item:
‘‘CHAPTER 49—ELECTIVE COSMETIC MEDICAL PROCEDURES’’.
14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this
15 section shall apply to procedures performed on or after Jan-
16 uary 1, 2010.
