Device manufacturer lays off 100, blames Obamacare

Smith & Nephew, a global manufacturer of medical devices, announced it will lay off 100 workers in plants in Massachusetts and Tennessee. The reason, the company says, is Obamacare and the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device companies.

Joe Metzger, senior vice president of corporate communications for Smith & Nephew, said the tax is impacting 'a number of companies across the U.S.'

'Smith & Nephew is not immune from this added expense burden,' Metzger said in a statement. 'Unfortunately, and in order to absorb this cost burden into our business, this has meant less than 100 positions have been made redundant across various departmental functions in our Tennessee and Massachusetts sites.

It's a convenient reason, and right-wing media is all over it. But what much of the right-wing media is not reporting, and the Memphis Business Journal is reporting, is that beginning-of-the-year layoffs have lately been a habit of Smith & Nephew.

The company said in February 2012 it would lay off 7 percent of its global employees. It laid off 80 Memphis workers in December 2011 as part of a company restructuring.

The company's third quarter profits were up overall, but below the previous year's third quarter performance. The company's announcement of its 2012 performance is scheduled for Feb. 7, which may or may not have anything to do with these layoffs, but recent history might be a guide, and Obamacare a highly politicized excuse.