Linda Blumberg

A plan to tax makers of medical devices to help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health care system is raising alarms in Massachusetts, where device companies say the estimated $400 million they would have to pay could force them to cut jobs and reduce research. Health care fight centers on seniors. A17. The proposed tax is included in the health care bill being debated and amended by the Senate Finance Committee this week. That bill, expected to be the principal vehicle for the final health care overhaul plan that will go before Congress, could be reported out of committee as early as today. State industry leaders, including heavyweights such as Boston Scientific Corp., of Natick, and Covidien, of Mansfield, have been lobbying to get the tax deleted from the bill introduced by Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, who chairs the finance panel. Manufacturers argue it could cripple innovation in a sector that includes 225 companies with a total of 20,000 employees in Massachusetts

As debate rages over public health plan, private insurers seem to be quashing competition. One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition ? just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S.

One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition ? just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S.

As debate rages over public health plan, private insurers seem to be quashing competition. One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition ? just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S.