Heart Safe news: Our weekly update on what’s happening in the world of heart safety and noninvasive cardiology

Delay of medical device tax: Obama advocates changes to healthcare proposal
Striving to break the stalemate over healthcare legislation, President Barack Obama proposed a plan that includes a delay on the potential $20 billion assessed on device makers such as Cardiac Science.

According to Bloomberg, he delayed until 2014 the implementation of $67 billion in fees on the insurance industry over 10 years and changed the $20 billion assessed on device makers to an excise tax instead of a fee.

This proposed delay comes as a relief to medical device manufacturers, who would now have more time to prepare for potential legislative changes.

In the plan, Obama also endorsed the first Medicare tax on capital gains and higher fees on pharmaceutical companies.

Outside the healthcare arena, a 2.9 percent assessment on income from interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, and rents for individuals earning more than $200,000 (or families making more than $250,000 annually) and a proposed capital gains tax would partly offset the price tag.

Arkansas AEDs: Arkansas schools await governor’s signature on AR AED legislation

The American Heart Association has successfully secured $200,000 in funding for Arkansas automated external defibrillators funding for Arkansas schools. The Joint Budget Committee approved an amendment by Representative Everett to fund Arkansas AEDs. The bill passed both the House and Senate and currently awaits the governor’s signature.

Cardiac Science’s Arkansas AED Expert is Scott Foster; meet him on his Web page. Ask Scott how you can take advantage of the pending AED legislation!

Click now and be heard! Only takes a minute!

You can help: AHA’s You’re the Cure

Cardiac Science is pitching in to a most worthy cause: the American Heart Association’s “You’re the Cure” drive for signatures to Congress for additional AED funding.

Register and take action! Just visit http://ez.com/AEDfunding and sign your name to let your Congressperson know that life-saving defibrillation is important to you. If you have a personal story or request, by all means, include it – there’s a space for your stories as well.

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P.S. Cardiac Science would like to welcome Nagisa Leonard as our junior editorial assistant. Thanks for the post, Nagisa! – Joe Hage

Related Products

• Powerheart AED G3 Plus
• Powerheart AED G3 Fully Automatic and Semi-automatic
• Powerheart AED G3 Pro
• Powerheart AED G3 Trainer
• AED Program Management

Last 5 posts

• Cardiac Science AEDs in Spain [VIDEO] - April 4th, 2011
• Cardiac Science wins first major public access defibrillation program in Europe - March 30th, 2011
• Georgia Park saves 5 lives with AEDs - March 24th, 2011
• Sad stories, avoidable deaths? - March 23rd, 2011
• Texas school's AED saves 6-year-old's life - March 22nd, 2011

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