Other Revenue Provisions

Other provisions have less direct effect on the health care industry. Effective in July, a ten percent direct tax will be imposed on indoor tanning services. Indoor tanning services are defined as services that use an electronic product with one or more ultraviolet lamps for skin tanning. However, phototherapy services performed by licensed medical professionals are excepted from this tax. The individual purchasing the indoor tanning services will pay the tax. If that individual does not pay the tax, then the tanning service business will pay the tax.


OTHER REFORM NEWS

In other health reform news, the U.S. government has responded to another lawsuit challenging the PPACA. The lawsuit from Virginia was filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia. The case challenges the "minimum coverage provision" of the PPACA--the requirement taking effect in 2014 that individuals without health insurance must obtain coverage or be subject to a financial penalty. The U.S. government is asking the federal court to dismiss the lawsuit. The U.S. is arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed because, among other reasons, Virginia is not now actually injured by the PPACA, and most likely will not be in the future; that a state cannot sue the federal government to protect state citizens from federal statutes; that suing now is improper because the "minimum coverage" provisions won't actually take effect until 2014; and also that Congress has a constitutional right to enact legislation such as the PPACA.

More on the tax provisions discussed in this article can be found in the Joint Committee on Taxation's analysis: http://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=3673

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