Bipartisan bills introduced in the House (H.R. 2529) and Senate (S. 1368) yesterday would change a provision in the health care reform law that now requires people who use tax-exempt health savings accounts and flexible spending arrangements to get prescriptions for over-the-counter medications.
NAIFA has long argued that this requirement was counterproductive and supports the effort to repeal it.
The original measure was supposed to lower costs by discouraging people from buying unneeded medicines. However, NAIFA predicted when the measure was first proposed that it would actually increase costs, because patients would be forced to consult their doctors for minor ailments they had previously been able to manage themselves. According to media reports, this has indeed been the case, and doctors have begun to complain that they are seeing patients who schedule appointments solely for the purpose of getting prescriptions for OTC remedies.
The legislation that would remove the prescription requirement was introduced by Sens. Ben Nelson (D – Neb.) and Pat Roberts (R – Kans.) and Reps. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kans.) and Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.).
A White House official said that the administration would evaluate the legislation and is open to ideas that would improve the health care law.