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ASPS: Cosmetic surgery taxes won’t solve state’s financial woes

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, February 22, 2005

In response to Washington becoming the third state to propose a cosmetic surgery tax, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has stated the tax is not the way for states to fix budget shortfalls or fund new programs.

The proposed taxes are on elective cosmetic surgery and physician services. Washington joins New Jersey, who first passed a tax in 2004, and Illinois, who has proposed a tax on elective cosmetic surgery to fund a stem cell research institute.

"While we understand that states are facing difficult times economically, taxing physicians and cosmetic surgery procedures is really an inappropriate and, frankly, flawed approach to fixing states' financial problems," said ASPS President Scott Spear, MD, in a release issued on the ASPS Web site.

The ASPS said there are number of concerns with the taxes, including that they will be arbitrary and expensive to the administrators; that they target small business owners since most of the nation's physicians are self-employed or part of a small physician-owned group practice; and that the line between cosmetic and reconstructive surgery can be blurry, thus leaving the determination of medical necessity up to state tax auditors.

The Washington senator proposing the tax wants the money to go to poor children's health insurance, according to the Holland Sentinel.

The New Jersey tax is expected to bring in $25 million, and Illinois's proposed 6 percent tax on cosmetic surgery could, if approved in the Legislature, be put to the voters in 2006, the Holland Sentinel reported.

To view the "ASPS Position Statement on Cosmetic Surgery and other Physician Taxes," click here.

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