Congress voted in favor of a stopgap spending bill Monday that ended the government shutdown and further delayed the enforcement of a 2.3 percent medical device tax, reports STAT.
Here are four things to know.
1. Federal officials first imposed the 2.3 percent tax on certain medical devices in January 2013 to help fund the ACA. After receiving harsh criticism from legislators and the medical device industry, Congress passed a two-year suspension of the levy in 2015.
2. The delay on the ACA's medical device tax was set to expire Jan. 1 and the first payments of the tax were due to the Treasury Department Jan. 29.
3. However, the stopgap bill — signed into law Monday by President Donald Trump — further delays the medical device levy for another two years. The language of the spending deal also retroactively delayed the tax beginning Dec. 31, 2017, so no taxes are due to the Treasury Department.
4. The tax will now go into effect Jan. 1, 2020, unless Congress passes a permanent repeal of the tax.