Croom Station Signal

Obamacare Strips OTC Medications from Taxpayers' Health Savings Plans

Here it comes... 

In one of the first cuts in what will soon become a healthcare massacre, the Washington Examiner, in an Oct. 28, 2010 story, reports that, beginning on January 1, 2011, our flexible savings plans (FSPs) and health savings plans (HSPs) can no longer be used to claim reimbursement for over-the-counter medications, unless you get a doctor's prescription! 

Yes, I know it's nuts. 

A national law that supposedly reforms our healthcare system instead forces you to go to the doctor to get a prescription for cold medicine, band aids, or poison ivy cream before you can use the money you saved to pay for these basic healthcare items. 

The Examiner cites an online provider that says it will no longer allow you to use your FSA savings to pay for, "acid controllers, allergy and sinus medication... anti-gas... baby rash creams... respiratory treatments, cough, cold and flu remedies... stomach remedies.... feminine anti-fungal treatments.... or pain relief."

According to the Examiner:

"The new provision guarantees that patients will either pay more for the same drugs, clog doctors' offices with expensive and unneeded appointments, or a combination of both, defeating the entire stated purpose of Obamacare." 

"With each new revelation, it looks less like a fix for the health care system, and more like a recipe for increased state control of Americans' financial and health choices."

 

 

Maryland's Silent Tsunami

I never thought I had much in common with the Washington Post editorial board until I read "Maryland's Silent Tsunami," the lead editorial in its October 4, 2010 edition. 

It is frighteningly on-point about the crisis facing the Old Line State:

"Neither O'Malley or Erhlich have cared to publicly discuss the most daunting threat to Maryland's fiscal health:

 Billions of dollars in pension and healthcare bills coming due for retired teachers and former state employees, and no plan in place to pay for them."

 

This wakeup call could have been lifted directly from my Clean House in Annapolis District 27A Delegate 2010 campaign website.

The Post explains better than I:

"Having shortchanged--for almost a decade-- its contributions to the pension fund that covers more than 100,000 former employees, the state faces unfunded pension liabilities of more than $18 billion and unfunded health-care obligation projected at $15 billion.  That's $33 billion in bills coming due, a sum equal to an entire year of state spending.  And no one knows where the money will come from."

The Post editorial writers seem to agree with my analysis of the source of the problem:

"The numbers reflect a sorry record of political avoidance, cowardice, and pandering by decisionmakers in Annapolis, often in thrall to public employee unions.  Starting in 2003, lawmakers allowed the state to trim its annual payments -- a decision akin to with holding part of your mortgage payment....