The net cost of healthcare is dictated by the difference between money flowing into the system and money flowing out. In this case, the taxes will bring money in - to help subsidize premiums that would otherwise be fully paid by consumers. Any part of the tax increase passed on to consumers by the device manufacturers will increase money flowing out, but the net effect will be inward - i.e., a cost saving. The reason is that the higher cost to consumers will result in fewer purchases, and so to offset this, the device makers will swallow some of the tax increases in order to maintain a reasonable income. Finally, the tax increases are necessary to avoid increasing the federal deficit, which would add to interest on the national debt and therefore cost more.

These are small steps forward, but in the right direction. The healthcare system is enormously bloated with excessive expenditures on treatments, devices, drugs, etc., that contribute to costs but not to health. Even more than disincentivizing excess expenditures on devices will be the need to reduce expenditures on unnecessary or duplicate facilities, tests, and specialty referrals.