Obamacare Will Spawn Crowded Waiting Rooms and Pointless Busywork for Doctors

Health care costs will go up under Obamacare for many reasons, such as the wasteful red tape it imposes on health savings accounts (HSAs).  Max Borders explains how the new healthcare law is harming the HSA his family relies on.  He used to be able to pay for over-the-counter medicines cheaply using his HSA.  But Obamacare will require him to get a doctor’s prescription for the very same medicine, a pointless waste of time:

Under the new health care law, consumers using workplace pre-tax health savings accounts will soon need a doctor’s note to pay for Tylenol and an estimated 15,000 other over-the-counter drugs.  Starting Jan. 1, employees who use flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health saving accounts (HSAs), or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) to pay for common medications such as pain relievers, cold medicines, antacids and allergy medications will need prescriptions.”

In USA Today, “ObamaCare Will Clog America’s Medical System,” by Dr. Marc Siegel, explains how Obamacare will fuel wasteful medical spending and result in more crowded waiting rooms in doctor’s offices and emergency rooms, “driving up costs and premiums.”

Obamacare has already led to big premium increases, and the elimination of some high-quality health plans.  It also includes a $60 billion excise tax on health insurers that will be passed on to consumers, as well as taxes on medical devices needed by patients, and a future tax increase on investors that will go into effect in 2013.