krambman;564433 wrote:I just want to preface this by saying that I have not read past this opening post, so if I repeat anything that's already been said/discussed, I apologize.
First of all, you can still use money from your HSA to purchase over the counter products, you will just need to pay tax on them. You can spend the money in your HSA however you want, heck, you could buy a cheese burger with it, but you only get to use that money tax free and count it as tax free income if it's used on approved purchases. If you use it for other purchases the money goes back to being regular taxable income. Because OTC's will still likely be cheaper than paying for these items tax free as prescriptions, your work load probably won't increase that much because most people will just pay the tax. Since people who don't have HSA plans (like my parents who are on a PPO) have always had to pay tax on things like Band-Aids and Tylenol, there's no reason that people with HSA's should get them tax free. Either there's no tax on it for anyone or everyone should have to pay tax on it. What they are switching to now is the way the system should have been from the beginning. Besides, I believe that even though people will now have to pay sales tax on over the counter items I believe that money used out of an HSA on these items is still free of federal income tax, so the government isn't telling anyone how to spend their money.
Here's how the new health care bill has/will affect me. Well, it actually will have very little effect on me personally. The one major effect that it does have is in the college finance reform that was part of the health care bill has made it easier for me to consolidate all of my loans, which lowers my monthly payment and interest and saves me money. The person it really affects in my family is my 21 year old sister who was born with a rare blood disease that weakens her immune system. Now she's guaranteed to be covered. Insurance companies can't deny her coverage or cancel her coverage the first time she gets sick like they could have before. The only problem is that since they didn't put a cap on premiums she'll get charged an arm and a leg for insurance, but at least she'll still be covered. Also, she can continue to pay her portion of my parent's medical insurance and stay on their coverage until she's 26, allowing her to be better covered than she could be right now as a newly married individual with a husband in grad school.
And you're right, ending British tyranny, abolishing slavery, implementing civil rights and doing away with separate-but-equal, establishing national parks, and providing public education are all horrible things that the government has done. Clearly they have never fixed anything and only make things worse because black people having equal rights has made this country worse than it was in the 1850's.
Sorry, but you are incorrect. You do not JUST pay tax on the purchases you make with your HSA that are non-medical. Right now you pay a 10% fee for anything non-medical (not including OTC med products). Starting next year putting anything on your HSA has a 20% fee attached to it including OTC med products. SO yes they will get Prescriptions for Vitamins, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Bandaids and what ever else because it will be at least 20% cheaper for them.
And my comment about the government not fixing anything was directed at Social Programs and things they've taken from the private sector. The post office, Welfare, social security, etc. Don't try and turn it into a race thing, You're acting too much like our POTUS.
