Obama-care Already Beginning to Erode Our Quality of Life
I thought I would share this snippet from my Open Enrollment form this year for my medical coverage:
“The recently enacted health care reform law prohibits health flexible spending accounts and health reimbursement arrangement from reimbursing for OTC drug expenses for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.”
Obama has said that if I like my plan, I can keep it… implying no negative impact to me. Though admittedly not a huge impact, very small in fact, this is a negative non-zero impact. Also notice this will disproportionately impact lower income families who try to minimize their costs by treating with common-sense and over-the-counter medications before going to the doctor.
Where I might have welcomed a change to my plan, is where the my prescription drug plan occasionally overrides my doctor’s prescription, forcing us to use generics when the doctor has reason to avoid them. Unfortunately however, that aspect of my plan is unchanged. They call it Step Therapy, where I am only allowed brand-name meds after the generic has failed. To quote my open enrollment plan, “Step Therapy will apply to any new first-time prescriptions or those that have not been filled in 130 days or more, even if your doctor writes “Dispense as Written” on your prescription.” So, apparently, where my doctor has sworn to do no harm, my insurance company has no such oath… and the Health Care law leaves that unchanged.
These are just 2 small reasons why I believe the Democratic Party cares more about controlling me and my money than it does about taking care of me and my family. (I believe the same about Old School Republicans by the way… the younger republicans don’t yet have the political power to change things, as was evidenced throughout W’s presidency).
Another example, though unrelated to my benefits per se, and which I hope will never impact me is a new 2.5% tax on the revenue of medical device companies. That’s revenue, not profit or income. I heard an interview with the CEO of a medical device company. His company’s profits last year were about $9M. 2.5% of their revenue works out to be over $7M, nearly 80% of profit. This will clearly be passed on to the customers who need these devices, and will end up being paid for by the insurance companies and government, and must obviously be passed on to the consumer either through higher premiums and taxes, or with less available care!
What I cannot figure out is whether this will help the elderly or hurt them. The elderly require a higher proportion of medical devices… but if the increased cost is through premiums, then whose premiums? There’s or mine? Or if it’s through additional taxes, then whose? Theirs or mine? Most likely mine in both cases. The only other option is to make medical devices less available, which can only decrease the life span of the elderly.
So to summarize, my taxes/premiums go up to pay a company’s taxes on a medical device, which then go toward paying for… what? medical devices? An obvious impact of this will be lost jobs, less research, more bureaucracy, and increased health care costs. How much sense does all this make?
This is why I do not fear liberal values per se (I even have a few “liberal” values), but I do fear liberal government. Health care is out of control, and it just become much worse.