View Full Version : Obamacare Strikes Again - Medical Savings Accounts
Gutshot John
07-06-10, 13:52
My wife's job apparently has nixed spending on anything not prescribed by a doctor. OTC medications, first aid kits and numerous other things are no longer permitted.
MSAs would otherwise stop people from going to a doctor and thereby reduce costs. Costs will accordingly go up.
Oh yeah did I mention that it's YOUR own money.
To quote my wife "Thanks dick."
But it's for your own good!
If I understand correctly, Flex Spending Accounts are going to be capped at $2500/year, which will suck for those of us who use them heavily. Currently I can put up to $5000 in, not sure if that is a federally capped number or just by the FSA administrator (but it's been the same from job to job).
That means that extra $2500 worth of care may cost close to $4000 since it's post-tax dollars instead of pre-tax, and the feds and state are getting their chunk first.
This is great timing too because we're finally past pregnancies and other stuff that has been eating up my FSA money for the past few years, so I was hoping to finally going be able to use it for laser eye surgery next year. Probably not allowed now anyway, since it's not "prescribed".
We need to get all these examples out there, published. So we can document how full Obama was/is when he says you can keep your coverage, nothing is going to change with your coverage, etc and how this is a huge step back.
GermanSynergy
07-06-10, 16:10
Remember, they had to "pass" this bill so we could find out what's in it. Now we're finding out......:mad:
My business is going to get f*cked over by this too.
If you want cheap medical care, limit liability, ban price discrimination. When you go to buy a TV from walmart they don't ask what sort of TV insurance you have before giving you a price.
Getting medical care would be really cheap if we stopped spreading around the cost of acting like a moron and eating yourself to death.
That is the way it works in Europe. OTCs are very expensive. See, we are well on the way....
VooDoo6Actual
07-07-10, 10:08
zipity doo dah oh what a wonderful feeling in my heart today
My wife's job apparently has nixed spending on anything not prescribed by a doctor. OTC medications, first aid kits and numerous other things are no longer permitted.
MSAs would otherwise stop people from going to a doctor and thereby reduce costs. Costs will accordingly go up.
Oh yeah did I mention that it's YOUR own money.
To quote my wife "Thanks dick."
Her company or the IRS? because before the bill the IRS set limits on what could be bought with your HSA, FSA, HRA's.
Gutshot John
07-07-10, 19:21
Her company or the IRS? because before the bill the IRS set limits on what could be bought with your HSA, FSA, HRA's.
Her employer but at the direction of the IRS. The current HCR legislation has severely curtailed the use of MSAs. Obviously there was a change due to the fact that the employer felt compelled to notify its employees.
The previous limits set by the IRS allowed for the purchase virtually anything "medical" e.g. OTC medications like Zyrtek you could purchase from pre-tax income. I know at least one forum moderator here bought himself a kickin first-aid/trauma kit with money that he would have otherwise forfeited.
It doesn't take a policy wonk to realize that people will be be getting prescriptions for things they used to otherwise buy OTC. This will in turn raise the cost of health care.
This is just one of many similar changes coming that are already a done deal, legally, and a bunch of worse changes that are still on the drawing board.
Any time you put money into any sort of account, directly government related or not, you're trusting the government not to steal it. HSA's, IRA's, 401(k)'s, money markets (which they can now suspend during 'emergencies'), etc.
The changes coming **** everyone in the wallet because they're supposed to; the idea is to take money from you, and give it to someone else. If you're the "someone else", odds are astronomically high that you're not here reading this right now.
The claimed medical cost controls are bullshit and non-existent, other than as a mechanism to reduce care for everyone, to cover for government induced inefficiencies. Money spent of healthcare will go up, healthcare provided will go down.
The administration and congress have telegraphed their intentions pretty well by now. Choose wisely where you put your money.
I know at least one forum moderator here bought himself a kickin first-aid/trauma kit with money that he would have otherwise forfeited.
that's a good idea.
Gutshot John
07-09-10, 13:39
Per the Washington Post.
Health-care law may pose compliance issues for IRS, taxpayers (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/08/AR2010070806092.html)
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.