You may remember the ‘tampon tax‘ discovered in the Baucus bill – short version: Baucus went out and did a mass tax on medical devices to supposedly pay for his ‘compromise;’ unfortunately for him, things like condoms and tampons are classified as ‘medical devices’ – and you’d think that the resulting loud objections would have caused the Senator (more accurately, the Senator’s staff) to more thoroughly vet their policy changes.

You’d think. What Baucus did was do a quick hack and make the threshold for taxation $100.  Amanda Carpenter points out the problem with that:

But, just wait for the revolt to start again because women will still pay a price under the new structure. Particularly new moms who want to use a powered breast pump to bottle milk for their babies. Those devices, labeled class II, typically retails for more than $100.

And, all the rest of the more expensive, higher-class medical devices used by both men an women — such as pacemakers, ventilators, X-ray machines, powered wheelchairs and surgical needles — will be taxed, too.

Speaking as a stay-at-home dad, I can say with some authority that breast pumps make it a lot easier for working mothers to do both. I am stunned that the Democrats apparently care so little about either working mothers or the poor (who will be disproportionately affected by this legislation, as usual) that they’d blithely write legislation as slipshod as this. And that’s just the breast pumps. What are we going to say to somebody who can’t afford the tax on his or her pacemaker? “Sorry?”

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.