Death and taxes

I'll be the first to admit, I don't really know all the ins and outs of the health care bills that are currently the topic of so much heated debate. In general terms I basically oscillate between the opinion that everybody should get taken care of when they're sick and the opinion that doctors should always be paid well for their services. (The explanation as to why these two things don't seem to be possible at the same time is beyond my reach.) One opinion that will always be floating in my mind during such negotiations is that people with so-called "pre-existing conditions" should absolutely not be denied health care. In fact, I could easily drop into a state of insanity when I consider that for some reason, in this great country, health insurance companies will only offer health care coverage to the already-healthy!

Anyway, in an attempt to be more knowledgeable and aware, I've begun reading more political articles on CNN during my breaks between class. Today I was happy to see that there was an article entitled "What will the health care bill look like?" Following the link, I was led to a plainly written article that outlined the differences between the House and Senate's respective bills.

One tiny sentence in the article didn't make sense to me:

The House plan pays for health care reform with a 5.4 percent surtax on incomes for those making more than $500,000 a year, as well as families earning more than $1 million. It also includes a 2.5 percent tax on medical devices sold in the United States.

I'm satisfied with the surtax on incomes over $500,000 (I think they'll still be able to buy milk), and I'm also relatively unconcerned with taxing those who earn more than $1 million per year (in fact, I don't think they'll even realize it's gone). My problem is with the 2.5% tax on medical devices.

Do I have this straight? The government wants to help fix health care costs. They've devised a plan to do so. In order to pay for the plan to fix health care costs, they'll have to raise the cost of medical devices. Does this seem counter intuitive to anyone else out there?

Ben Franklin said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

I say, "Taxes may be certain, but they certainly don't always make cents!"

(get it?)