Miami Plastic Surgeons Get Ugly About Bo-Tax
Doctors and patients are upset over plastic surgery tax in a proposed healthcare reform
By DIANA GONZALEZ and TODD WRIGHT
Updated 7:15 PM EDT, Wed, Dec 2, 2009
In Miami, beauty costs. But it will really cost if a new Senate healthcare bill passes.
Botox, liposuction, teeth whitening, breast augmentation and any cosmetic procedure that's medically unnecessary would be subject to a 5 percent tax, under the senate healthcare bill.
That’s a nonstarter with Miami plastic surgeons, who think the idea of a Bo-Tax is downright ugly.
Miami Plastic Surgery, a popular practice in Kendall, sent letters to patients urging them to contact their senators. Attaching beauty pictures is optional. Many patients are being sent to an online petition against the beauty tax.
“I think it’s going to interfere with people’s decision to have surgery and it’s going to put us in the roll of being a tax collector” Dr. Michael Kelly.
The cosmetic procedures tax could raise 6 billion dollars to help pay for covering the uninsured, supporters claim.
Breast reconstruction after cancer and surgeries performed to correct deformities would be excluded from the tax. But doctors question how will the government draw the line on what's considered purely cosmetic.
Does looking like you have been beaten with an ugly stick count as a necessary reason for cosmetic surgery? What about if you just wanted to brighten your smile for a job interview?
No one wants the PETA folks after them on South Beach calling them a beached whale so a tummy tuck or a little off the thigh might be necessary.
“The big problem is that it’s really discriminatory. Up to about 90 percent of our patients are women,” Dr. Carlos Wolf said.
In South Florida, a renowned plastic surgery hot spot, reaction to the proposed to the tax is mixed. The issue is more than ugly duckling versus beautiful swan. It has become a battleground for the haves and have nots.
And that debate is sure to get uglier.
First Published: Dec 2, 2009 5:56 PM EDT
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