Unlike Queen Nancy’s statement that “we’ll have to pass the bill to see what is in it,” we actually knew this little tidbit was in the bill prior to passage, and critics pretty much proclaimed that it would have a negative effect. And, guess what? It has
Lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday to remove restrictions on tax-exempt health spending accounts, the latest provision of the healthcare reform law to come under attack by Democrats.
The bill would nix a provision that since January has required a prescription for buying over-the-counter medicines with medical savings accounts such as Flexible Spending Arrangements and Health Savings Accounts. The language was added as a way to keep the bill’s costs down because it was estimated to save $5 billion over 10 years by cutting down on unnecessary drug purchases.
Unnecessary to whom? Elected officials? Government bureaucrats? An unelected panel of government regulators?
But it appears to have had the opposite effect of increasing people’s use of medical services. Indeed, many doctors complain that they’re seeing patients for the sole purpose of writing out prescriptions for over-the-counter medicines.
You mean to say that yet another provision of ObamaCare is a clunker, with unanticipated consequences? Well, not so unanticipated to those who paid attention to the provisions we say before-hand. The White House has said they are “eagerly waiting to read the legislation” because “we are open to ideas that make care better and more affordable.” So, then the whole damned legislation should be repealed and replaced with common sense legislation that actually lowers costs, rather than one which damages the system and raises costs while putting government into the driver’s seat.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU
OH HELL!!
Quote:
has required a prescription for buying over-the-counter medicines
isn’t that the whole point of OTC meds?? That you don’t need a doctor approval?
I never heard of this one. But does not surprise me. I am sure none of the Congressional Socialists and naive RINOS did either.
I still dont understand why we just don’t put up a bill to overturn this travesty completely. We could take 10 years to block each part of ObamaCare piece by piece.
AAArarrggh
Well, basically, it’s if they want to use the money from their health savings account to purchase them. You know, the money the person saved, so, now they have to see their doctor to get the note, which means paying money to see the doctor, slowing the doctors office down, etc and so on.