Obamacare's Medicine Cabinet Tax Hits Next Week
By
ATR | 12/27/10 | 10:54 AM EST
Due to an Obamacare provision taking effect on January 1, Americans will no longer be able to use their Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (with the exception of insulin).
Under current rules, health consumers may use these pre-tax accounts to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines. But on New Years Day 2011, the 40 million Americans who use FSAs and HSAs will no longer be able to use their accounts to buy simple, everyday medicines like the following:
--Aspirin
--Antacids
--Laxatives
--Menstrual pain relievers
--Antihistamines
--Stimulants
--Anti-Ulcer Medicines
--Athlete’s Foot Cream
--Cough Medicine
--Motion Sickness Medicine
--Anti-Diarrheal Medicine
--Decongestants
--Hemorrhoid Cream
--Anti-Flatulence Medicine
The provision is just one of
Obamacare’s two dozen new or higher taxestotaling nearly $600 billion over this decade.
The tax increase will affect any family that has an HSA or FSA. Therefore, it is clear violation of
President Obama’s oft-repeated promisenot to raise “any form of taxes” on any family making less than $250,000 per year.