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Health care bill tucks in 5 percent tax on cosmetic procedures

Soothing classical music plays in the background as the surgeon snips thin threads hanging from the corners of the patient’s eyes.
Finished with the scissors, Dr. Daniel Teet tells her that everything went well in the hour-long procedure, adding that she should expect little discomfort during the six days until he removes her stitches. The Chicago woman, who asked that her name be withheld, appears relaxed and insists to observers in the operating room that she feels fine after the surgery that lifted and tightened her upper eyelids.

This is not her first trip to his Renaissance Cosmetic Surgery Center and Day Spa in Greensburg, she said. And if she wants to have something else done, she’ll be back.

Cosmetic surgeons say patients will continue to seek surgery despite a proposed 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic procedures that Senate Democrats buried within their 2,074-page health care bill as a way to trim its $849 billion price tag. Still, surgeons oppose the tax, arguing that it targets medical professionals, discriminates against women and most likely will fall short of the $5.8 billion lawmakers say it will generate over the next 10 years… more

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