WINONA LAKE – With the chances of a last-ditch effort to pass health care reform this year appearing to fade, look for more attention to focus on the fate of the medical device tax – an issue near and dear to Warsaw’s orthopedic industry.

Third District U.S. Rep. Jim Banks said last week that the need to consider other ways to repeal the device tax will increase if the latest effort to repeal Obamacare fails this week.

The proposal lost a key vote Friday when U.S. Sen. John McCain said he would not support it in its current form. McCain cast a decisive vote during the last major effort to repeal Obamacare, and chances of the Senate passing Graham-Cassidy grew more doubtful with McCain’s announcement.

The current legislation would repeal the medical device tax, while keeping others in place. One of its main features involves block grants and further control to states.

The chance to include the health care reform into a continuing resolution ends Saturday, according to Banks, and the likelihood of passage of overhaul legislation would likely decrease over the final few months of the year.

“If we can’t permanently repeal the medical device tax as part of repealing Obamacare, we need to start looking at a stand-alone effort to permanently repeal it before it comes back into effect,” said Banks, a Republican, during an interview last week while making various stops in Warsaw and Winona Lake.

Congress passed a two-year moratorium on the device tax in 2015, three years after the tax was implemented. The move allows manufacturers to avoid paying a 2.3 percent excise tax on devices until Jan. 1, 2018.

Orthopedic firms argue the tax hurts innovation and has led to job cuts. Many expected the tax to be permanently ended with President Donald Trump’s desire to repeal and replace Obamacare.

He said he hears about the device tax issue from orthopedic companies every day.

“I’m growing more and more concerned by the day that we haven’t been able to achieve that,” Banks said. “It’s very frustrating.”

Bank’s support last week for Graham-Cassidy sounded tepid at best.

“It doesn’t go nearly far enough to replace Obamacare,” Banks said.

If the bill does pass the Senate, Banks said he has not decided whether to vote for it – in part because nobody knows what the legislation might look if it gets to the House.

 At the same time, he calls the bill “a step in the right direction.”

On other issues:

• Banks said he thought Trump “struck the right tone” in his United Nations address last week. Asked about Trump’s use of the term “Rocket Man” and talk of total destruction of North Korea, Banks said of the president, he “doesn’t always articulate his position the way I?would.”

• Banks said he supports a major defense spending that has passed through the House and Senate, but is disappointed that the cap on military spending through “sequestration” remains in place.

• He said he also was disappointed by the three-month budget deal that Trump agreed to with the support of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer.

He compared it to kicking a can down the road.

“We surpassed $20 trillion last week in our national debt for the first time and the president’s deal with Chuck and Nancy did nothing – they left it of the table – and didn’t do anything to address the spending.”