Coughing Up The Costs Literally
By Cong. Kay Granger
Texas Insider Report: FORT WORTH Texas Recently I wrote to you about several companies that have been forced to stop offering health care plans to their employees as a result of the new health care law. I wanted to let you know about another piece of bad news about the bill that I learned this week that will impact nearly 10 million Americans.
Beginning January 1 2011 over-the-counter drugs cannot be reimbursed tax-free from Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) without a prescription.
HSAs allow people to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses without being taxed on their contributions to the accounts. Individuals must have a qualifying high-deductible health care plan to establish an HSA and after establishing an HSA individuals or employers can contribute to the account up to an annual limit.
However the new health reform law puts several restrictions on what HSA funds can be used for.
This means that over 15000 common health care items will now need a prescription if someone wants to use their HSA or FSA.
If you take common allergy sinus and pain medications or use insect bite ointment baby rash cream or simple flu remedies you will now be required to obtain a prescription if you wish to use the tax-free funds from your HSA or FSA that you have been contributing to.
This is just another example of how this bill will leave millions of Americans behind and will take away the few common sense tools families have to keep their own health care costs down.
