[John]

They lowered it from $4 Billion to $2 Billion a year.

The amount itself now seems set and has been halved from an earlier Senate proposal. A bill unveiled Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D., Nev.) would impose the same amount of tax each year--$2 billion--as the health-care bill passed by the House of Representatives. A key difference, however, is timing. The Senate would impose the tax starting in 2010, while the House bill wouldn't require companies to make payments until 2013.

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The Senate bill will won't tax Class I devices, such as tongue depressors, or Class II devices that retail for less than $100. The House bill excludes all devices sold at retail stores.

The Senate bill also divides how the tax would be imposed based on a firm's annual sales. Companies with annual sales below $5 million won't be required to pay a fee, while those with annual sales above $5 million would have to some sort of fee.