Momentum appears to be picking up to repeal the section of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that imposes new restrictions on health care spending accounts. First, there was the Patients Freedom to Choose Act proposed by Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.). The act seeks to repeal the elimination of over-the-counter drugs as a reimbursable expense and to lift the $2,500 cap on health care spending accounts that becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2013.
On May 10, numerous industry groups co-authored a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging them to repeal the restriction placed on tax-preferred accounts for the reimbursement of OTC medications without a doctor’s prescription.
