Tornado Alley (PROG)

[CC Writer]

Senate Health Bill Repeals Obamacare’s Medicine Cabinet Tax

The Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act provides middle class tax relief for the 30 – 35 million Americans with a Flexible Spending Account and the 20 million Americans with a Health Savings Account.

-The Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax violated Obama’s middle class tax pledge. Obamacare imposed a $1 trillion tax hike on the American people, and violated President Obama’s own “firm pledge” not to raise any form of tax on any middle class American. One of the most widespread Obamacare taxes is the Medicine Cabinet Tax.

-The Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax hits tens of millions of Americans. The Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax hits the 20 million Americans with a Health Savings Account and the 30 – 35 million Americans with a Flexible Spending Account.

-Under Obamacare’s Medicine Cabinet Tax, Americans are forbidden from using HSA and FSA funds to buy over the counter medicines. Examples include:

cold, cough, and flu medicines
children’s fever relievers
chest rubs
aspirin and baby aspirin
allergy medicines
menstrual cramp relief medication
feminine personal care treatments
hundreds of other common medicine cabinet necessities


-The Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax is a $5.6 Billion Tax Hike. By forcing Americans with FSAs and HSAs to use post-tax dollars to purchase these necessary items, Obamacare raised taxes on these households by $5.6 billion over a ten year period.

-The Repeal Bill Abolishes the Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax, providing significant tax relief for middle class households. The repeal bill gives HSA and FSA holders the freedom to use pre-tax dollars to purchase over the counter medicines for their household -- cold, cough, and flu medicines, children’s fever relievers, chest rubs, aspirin and baby aspirin, allergy medicines, menstrual cramp relief medication, feminine personal care treatments, hemorrhoid cream, and hundreds of other common medicine cabinet necessities.

-The Senate health bill doubles the dollar amount families can put into HSAs. Families with high medical expenses will be able to purchase more of their essential health items using pre-tax funds. This change makes HSAs even more useful to household budgets.

“The Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax raised the cost of health care and made middle income Americans worse off,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “The bill repeals Obamacare’s Medicine Cabinet Tax once and for all.”

http://www.atr.org/senate-health-bill-repeals-obamacare-s-medicine-cabinet-tax