ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20100329

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!



Happy Easter Week!!

Calvary -- Where All Sins Are Forgiven and Forgotten



"Daily Motivations"

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. -- Thomas Jefferson

"Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind." -- Marva Collins

Find what makes your heart sing and create your own music. -- Mac Anderson

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be." -- Abraham Maslow



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

He made Himself nothing; He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. (Philippians 2:7)

Understanding God is not a simple task. I readily admit that, like all human beings, I am incapable of completely understanding the attributes of our awesome God who reigns in overwhelming majesty. Who am I, a mere man, trying to understand the God of the universe who is all-powerful, holy, and righteous? But I know without a doubt that God wants us to really know Him.

Let me go back to my analogy of the mite on the flea on the dog. The mite had given up hope that he could ever understand the mighty king. Then it was as though King Solomon searched out that insignificant mite. First, the king found the owner of that small home on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He stepped into the yard, found the dog, then the flea, and finally, with astonishing loving kindness, told the mite---in the mite's own limited language---all about himself.

But amazingly, God went even further. He did not just content Himself with speaking to us through our limited language. Instead, He assumed our limited form---that of a human---setting aside His riches and splendor and honor to become like us! That, of course, was the miraculous day when God was born as a baby in a manger in the small village of Bethlehem. That baby's name was Jesus. This demonstration of God's love is beyond my comprehension and shows His great desire for us to know Him. God's willingness to become a man changed forever the way I can relate with Him.

Your View of God Really Matters …

God is still pursuing you. He wants you to know Him even better. But how well are you responding? What could you do today to deepen your relationship with Him?



"The Patriot Post"

"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy." --Thomas Jefferson



Video of the Week

Barack Obama didn't always think ramming through health care "reform" with reconciliation was a good idea. In fact, he once preached against it. See the video

http://patriotpost.us/perspective/2010/03/05/obamas-old-tune-no-reconciliation/



This Week's 'Braying Jenny' Award

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recently explained what "bipartisanship" means, along with claiming Democrat camaraderie with the Tea Party:

The health care bill "can be bipartisan even though the votes might not be bipartisan. Because [Republicans] have made their imprint on this," she said.

Meanwhile, she also claimed that Democrats "share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interests in Washington." Good luck with that outreach, Nan.



Around the Nation: Public Debt Bombs

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once observed, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." One facet of that problem has arrived in the form of unfunded liabilities for public "servant" benefits. According to the Pew Center, a $1 trillion gap exists between $3.35 trillion in pension, health care and other retirement benefits promised to current and retired state employees as of fiscal year 2008 and the $2.35 trillion available to pay them. That's $1 trillion in unfunded liabilities that must be resolved through higher taxes in concert with drastic benefit reductions.

Not without irony, President Obama's adopted home state of Illinois is in the worst shape of all, managing to fund only 54 percent of those benefits while carrying an astounding unfunded liability of more than $54 billion.

Similar data from the crucibles of democracy also show a strong correlation between states with concentrations of liberals and a state's budgetary health. The five states in the worst financial shape are all bastions of leftist policies -- California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. Each shares strong appetites for public sector unions and pricey social programs. Illinois, again, is in the worst financial condition, with per-capita debt of $1,877 and unfunded pensions of $17,230. Moody's rates Illinois' general obligation just ahead of dead-last California. On the other side of the equation, three of the top five fiscally healthiest states are conservative states (Utah, Nebraska and Texas), while the other two (New Hampshire and Virginia) are swing states.

Considering the unchecked acceleration of the federal government's looming fiscal Armageddon, voters must ask themselves this November if they wish to call the tune and deal with the issue before debt becomes uncontrollable. Allowing this current crop of suicidal spenders two additional years is an unacceptable alternative.



Culture & Policy -- Climate Change This Week: Gore Comes Out of Winter Hibernation

In the wake of the recent irrefutable counterattack on climate change "science," one would think that those who have forecasted the end of civilization would be running for the hills, or -- at the very least -- quietly dropping their phony claims and stepping aside in light of, well, the inconvenient truth. But leave it to Al Gore to make even more excuses for years of incompetence and dishonesty, and leave it to the New York Times to provide him a platform from which to pontificate.

And pontificate he did, in a weekend op-ed worthy of Michael Moore in terms of pure, unadulterated horse pucky. The former vice president once again wailed that we will face an "unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it." He should just come clean and tell us what he really means: redistributing the wealth, from our pockets to his.

Gore also valiantly defended those of his brethren exposed in the Climategate scandal, referring to the UK's University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit e-mails as "stolen." (As if that somehow justifies the corrupt content therein.) He further claimed the abused scientists involved had succumbed to the pressure of climate skeptics, blatantly ignoring that for years other scientists who questioned climate change found themselves either silenced or blacklisted.

He even went so far as to blame the U.S. Senate, by way of stalling the Obama administration's cap-n-tax scheme, for other world leaders' lack of commitment at the Copenhagen Summit. China, Gore confides conspiratorially, was really gung-ho about limiting its carbon emissions until the big, bad U.S. decided to take the low road.

The government Gore and others like him envision is a danger to our Essential Liberty. Preserving a government that encourages both a free market and free thinkers can mean not only the difference between prosperity and ruin, but literally between life and death. We need only to compare the recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti to tell us this. The earthquake in Chile registered 8.8 on the Richter Scale, which was hundreds of times more powerful than the one that struck Haiti, but due in part to Chile's superior infrastructure and wealth, only 708 people were killed, as opposed to more than 220,000 in the third-world Caribbean nation. Thankfully, more people are starting to realize that we cannot take our prosperity and our way of life for granted, and that includes vigorously confronting opportunistic charlatans like Al Gore.

In related news, the University of Tennessee is giving Gore an honorary doctoral degree because, gushed Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek, "his work has quite literally changed our planet for the better." Both the publisher and managing editor of The Patriot Post hold advanced degrees from the University of Tennessee and, accordingly, have submitted protests. (Our editors did actual research for their degrees.)



This Week's 'Al-pha Jackass' Award

"From the standpoint of governance, what is at stake is our ability to use the rule of law as an instrument of human redemption. After all has been said and so little done, the truth about the climate crisis -- inconvenient as ever -- must still be faced." --Gore, the populist potentate of eco-theology

The "rule of law" is certainly not an "instrument of human redemption," nor is it what Gore is advocating.



Village Academic Curriculum: A 360-Degree Turnaround

It's no secret that America's schools are failing to educate, and a succession of presidents have attempted to address the issue through the federal government with little to show for it. Barack Obama became the latest to step into the realm of education reform by putting $900 million in taxpayer money on the line, promising our most troubled school districts "turnaround" grants if they could come up with a model plan to bring their schools up to snuff.

Under the new proposal, districts have a number of different models from which to choose, among them the "turnaround" model where the principal and half the staff are replaced, the "restart" model of closing and reopening a school under charter-style management, and the "closure" model where kids are simply uprooted to different schools within the district. Districts will compete against others in their state for a share of the grant money.

Since most of these schools happen to be in large city districts (read: pockets of heavily Democrat voters) one could argue this is simply a payoff, throwing money at a problem that money itself doesn't address. Many of these models can thus be readily compared to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

One thing missing from the proposal is the concept of school choice for long-suffering parents, akin to the DC voucher program. Since education unions look at vouchers the way Superman eyes kryptonite, it's a sure bet that any such suggestions will be a no-go for securing the federal dollars. Our hunch is that while a number of new cushy administrative jobs will come from this program, few competent high school graduates will be saved or created under this federal boondoggle.



To Keep and Bear Arms

Three people were shot during a gun battle involving alleged burglars in Harris County, Texas. During the late morning hours on Feb. 19, two armed suspects forced their way through a homeowner's front door.. Fortunately, the homeowner was also armed. Shots were exchanged and the homeowner was struck, but one of the suspects was killed. The other suspect, a juvenile, attempted to find refuge at a neighbor's house. That neighbor said, "He told me that he had gotten shot and to call his mother. I thought he was just crazy."

Police soon arrived and the youth was taken to the hospital. The condition of the homeowner remains unknown. According to another neighbor, this is the same area that had recently been hit by several robberies. It is still unclear whether those recent crimes were related.



And Last...

The television show "America's Most Wanted" will mark its 1,000th episode this weekend on Fox. Since its inception, the show has assisted in the capture of more than 1,100 fugitives, as well as reunited 43 missing children with their families. Perhaps this success is why Barack Obama has decided to sit for an interview with host John Walsh for the episode. At first, this interview seemed rather odd, if only because Walsh rarely interviews suspects, but then we remembered that Obama always does interviews before big TV events. Besides, he's trying to garner votes for health care and by golly, if he needs law enforcement assistance to get it done, so be it. Indeed, the nation would be well served if Mr. Walsh posted pictures of Capitol Hill's "Most Wanted." We suspect, come November, many of those Beltway troublemakers will be brought to justice.



"The Web"

Four Power Questions to Ask an Evolutionist Part 1

http://www.answersingenesis.org/media/video/ondemand



Obama names 15 recess appointments, including union lawyer

By Tony Romm

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/89473-pres-obama-names-15-recess-appointments-including-becker-

President Barack Obama on Saturday wielded his recess appointment powers for the first time, clearing 15 nominees to assume posts that have remained vacant for months due to insurmountable congressional roadblocks.

Among the 15 named just days before the Senate departs for Easter recess are Craig Becker and Mark Pearce, the White House's two, hotly contested nominees for the National Labor Relations Board.

Republicans have staunchly opposed both nominees, Becker especially, for their pro-labor positions. Business associations were also opposed to the appoinment of Becker, an associate general counsel to both the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and AFL-CIO who was nominated by Obama to the NLRB but failed this February to secure 60 votes in the Senate for confirmation. Still, their appointment to the NLRB means the agency may now resume deciding labor disputes without the looming threat of a shutdown by the Supreme Court.

Noticeably absent from the list, however, is Dawn Johnsen, the White House's nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel. Republicans have long excoriated Johnsen for being too much of an ideologue to run such an important wing of the Justice Department, though the Obama administration has repeated it remains confident in her leadership abilities.

Nevertheless, Obama attributed the need for recess appointments on the "unprecedented level of obstruction" in the U.S. Senate, led primarily by the chamber's Republicans.

The White House calculated that the 15 nominees named on Saturday have awaited confirmation votes for an average of 214 days, or seven months -- or, put differently, a combined total of 3,204 days, or nine years.

“The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees. But if, in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis,” Obama said, noting all of the appointments must still be confirmed after this year.

“Most of the men and women whose appointments I am announcing today were approved by Senate committees months ago, yet still await a vote of the Senate," the president added. "I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government.”

Still, the president's recess appointments are likely to draw the ire of Senate Republicans, all 41 of whom warned Obama in a letter last week not to invoke the Constitutionally provided power, especially with respect to Becker.
The GOP has opposed Becker primarily because of his connections to labor groups and support for card-check legislation, which would make it easier for employees to form unions. But his nomination stalled in the Senate even when Democrats had a 60-vote supermajority, as some of the party's members -- including Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) -- felt he might be too aggressive for the job.

Consequently, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) condemned the administration's move on Saturday, adding that Becker's appointment "is yet another episode of [the president] choosing a partisan path despite bipartisan opposition."

"The president previously held that appointing an individual in this manner meant that the nominee would have ‘less credibility,’ and that assessment certainly fits this nomination," the GOP leader said. "This is a purely partisan move that will make a traditionally bipartisan labor board an unbalanced agenda-driven panel.”

Yet, the appointment of both Becker and Pearce means the NLRB now has enough members to constitute a quorum for the first time since 2007. That should safeguard the board from additional legal challenges that could have ultimately shut down the agency indefinitely.

“I look forward to beginning work with them, and especially to addressing cases that have been pending for a long time,” Wilma Liebman, the board's chairwoman, later said in a statement.

But Becker and Pearce were not the only White House nominees named Saturday likely to anger GOP lawmakers.

Also appointed over recess will be: Jeffrey Goldstein as under secretary for Domestic Finance, Michael F. Mundaca as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, Eric L. Hirschhorn as an under secretary of Commerce, Michael Punke as deputy trade representative, Francisco "Frank" J. Sanchez as under secretary for international trade, Islam A. Siddiqui as chief agricultural negotiator, Alan Bersin for commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, Jill Long Thompson as a member of the Farm Credit Administration Board, Rafael Borrae as under secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security, Jacqueline A. Berrien, chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chai R. Feldblum as commissioner of the EEOC, Victoria L. Lipnic as commissioner of the EEOC P. David Lopez as general counsel of the EEOC, as well as Becker and Pearce.



Ministry says some members have quit praying for Obama

Associated Press

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=952526

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - A national ministry that organizes prayer for the president says it's hearing from members who have quit praying for President Barack Obama.

The chairman of the Presidential Prayer Team, Dave Otto, has issued an urgent appeal for funds.

His letter says the ministry has been "hit hard because some of our members are deeply distraught with our country's leaders." Otto writes that members "tell us that they are discouraged, disappointed, and some have admitted they have stopped praying for the president and our nation."

Otto says prayer is needed more than ever with issues like the healthcare vote dividing Americans, and with the nation's leaders casting aside what he calls "biblical principles."

His appeal seeks $96,000 in the next month to sustain the ministry.

When Will Liberals Give the Tea Party the Same Respect They Give Radical Islam?
George Louvis

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/when_will_liberals_give_the_te.html

Every time some Muslim blows up a plane, or a train, or kills innocent people, we hear from the Left how we should not judge all Muslims because of a few extremists. Our current President tells us, not to "jump to conclusions."

Talking heads on TV try to calm us down and reassure us that Islam is the "Religion of Peace." Yet these same politicians and liberal media hacks are going on a rampage attacking their fellow Americans because allegedly a few used racial slurs at a Tea Party protest (with no corroboration from numerous video recordings). I am not defending the racial slurs if they were used. The language is disgusting and there is no place for it. However, what happened to the tolerance that we're supposed to show to Muslims? Shouldn't our fellow Americans get the same treatment?

If there were a few bad, ugly people at the protest and they called names, is that more evil than flying planes into buildings or cutting off a journalist's head? So why are we told to be tolerant and not judge a whole group based on the actions of a tens of thousands of Al Qaeda members but we can condemn millions of Americans based on the actions of what 1, 10, maybe 100 Americans who called names?

This is not about the name calling, this is being used to stifle debate, to try and silence the movement and discredit the movement. My solution is simple. I would boycott any newspaper, magazine, television network or website that will not report this fairly. Let them know and let their sponsors know that we will not fall for this kind of intimidation. They are already losing money. Most of them are on the brink. They cannot afford to lose 50 million viewers/readers.



Little-Known Health Care Law Provision Is a Budget Buster, Critics Say

By William La Jeunesse

FOXNews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/26/little-known-long-termhealth-care-provision-budget-buster-say-critics/

While Congress spent the last year debating how to provide health insurance for the uninsured, a little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year.

Patients are cared for at the emergency room at Jamaica Hospital in New York March 22. (AP Photo)

While Congress spent the last year debating how to provide health insurance for the uninsured, a little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year.

The Class Act, otherwise known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, is the federal government's first long-term care insurance program.

Under-reported and the under the radar of most lawmakers, the program will allow workers to have an average of roughly $150 or $240 a month, based on age and salary, automatically deducted from their paycheck to save for long-term care.

The Congressional Budget Office expects the government will collect $109 billion in premiums by 2019.

Supporters say the program will relieve pressure on Medicaid and should help keep us out of nursing homes by enabling Americans to save for something most will eventually need -- assistance in eating, bathing or dressing in their old age.

Opponents say the provision is little more than a short-term revenue fix that will eventually add to the federal deficit.
"This is a scary proposition where the government passed a huge new entitlement program with gimmicks and tricks and the American people don't know they will be automatically enrolled in it by their employer if they don’t watch out," said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Nunes says Republicans were blindsided by the provision because they were unable to see the final bill until the very end. But Democratic supporters say the provision, which was championed by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, should not be controversial.

"It promotes independence and choice for people who need long-term care, and over time it will help millions stay where they want to, which is at home," says Jim Firman, director of the National Council on Aging.

Scheduled to go into effect in January, actual deductions could take place in 2012.

Here's how the program will work:

-- The federal government will approach employers next year about alerting workers to the proposed deduction.

-- The deduction will work on a sliding scale based on age. Younger workers will be charged less, older workers more. The Congressional Budget Office pegged the average monthly deduction at $146. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put it higher, at $240.

-- After a five-year vesting period, enrollees who need help bathing, eating or dressing will be eligible to take out benefits, estimated to be around $75 a day for in-home care.

"Seventy-five dollars a day in flex cash will be enough for most people who are at home to stay at home, which is where they want to be," Firman said. "We are convinced a cash benefit is the best way for consumer to get what they want."

While the plan's opponents don't question the need for long-term care, they say the federal government should not be managing it, and they believe the program will eventually add to the deficit.

"This creates a whole new bureaucracy that is going to break this country," Nunes said. "In the early years there will be money in it, but at the end of the day there won't be enough money to cover the problems because there will be too many people in the program."

The statute says the program is designed to be self-sustaining, with an advisory board to assure the fund remains solvent. But opponents say the fine print already tells another story. Unless modifications are made, according to a CBO analysis of the bill, "the program will add to future federal budget deficits in a large and growing fashion."

Supporters and detractors admit much needs to be worked out, and eventually premiums will be based on how many Americans actually sign up for the insurance.



AT&T to Book $1 Billion Cost on Health-Care Reform (Update3)

By Amy Thomson and Ian King

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-26/at-t-to-take-1-billion-charge-on-health-care-reform-update1-.html

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc. will book $1 billion in first-quarter costs related to the health-care law signed this week by President Barack Obama, the most of any U.S. company so far.

A change in the tax treatment of Medicare subsidies triggered the non-cash expense, and the company will consider changes to the benefits it offers current and retired workers, Dallas-based AT&T said today in a regulatory filing.

AT&T, the biggest U.S. phone company, joins Caterpillar Inc., AK Steel Holding Corp. and 3M Co. in recording non-cash expenses against earnings as a result of the law. Health-care costs may shave as much as $14 billion from U.S. corporate profits, according to an estimate by benefits consulting firm Towers Watson. AT&T employed about 281,000 people as of the end of January.

“Companies like AT&T, that have large employee bases, are going to have higher health-care costs and, therefore, lower earnings unless they can negotiate something or offer less to their employees,” said Chris Larsen, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in New York, who rates AT&T shares “overweight” and doesn’t own any himself.

AT&T previously received a tax-free benefit from the government to subsidize health-care costs for retirees, who would otherwise be on a Medicare Part D plan. Under the new bill, AT&T will no longer be able to deduct that subsidy.

“As a result of this legislation, including the additional tax burden, AT&T will be evaluating prospective changes to the active and retiree health-care benefits offered by the company,” the carrier said in the filing.

3M Cost

AT&T’s announcement was followed about an hour later by 3M, the St. Paul, Minnesota-based maker of products ranging from Post-It Notes to respiratory masks. 3M said it expects a one-time expense of $85 million to $90 million after tax, or about 12 cents a share, in the first quarter because of the new law, according to a statement. 3M had about 75,000 employees as of Feb. 5.

Michael Coe, a spokesman for the carrier, declined to comment. Peter Thonis, a spokesman for Verizon Communications Inc., which also employs more than 200,000 people, declined to comment.

New York-based Verizon, the second-largest U.S. phone company, told employees in a note after the law was signed that the tax will make the subsidy less valuable to employers like Verizon and so “may have significant implications for both retirees and employers.”

AT&T rose 9 cents to $26.24 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have fallen 6.4 percent this year.

Union Contracts

AT&T employees represented by the Communications Workers of America union have health benefits locked in via contracts that don’t expire until 2012 and 2013, Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the union, said in an interview. About 58 percent of the carrier’s workforce is represented by the union, AT&T said in a filing.

Obama signed the health-care reform policy into law on March 23 after a year of pushing the legislation through Congress without a single Republican vote. The new law will be phased in over several years and gives tens of millions of uninsured Americans health coverage. The bill, projected to cost almost $1 trillion, also calls for new taxes on the highest earners and fees on health-care companies.

Much of the public is still unsure about the plan with four in 10 Americans in favor of it, according to a Bloomberg National Poll. Obama is planning a follow-up campaign to sell the law -- the biggest change to the health system since Medicare was enacted in 1965 -- to the public.

--With reporting by Roger Runningen in Washington and Alex Nussbaum in New York. Editors: Lisa Wolfson, Stephen West

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net; Amy Thomson in New York at athomson6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net; Julie Alnwick at jalnwick@bloomberg.net



‘Seeing’ Red at Reconciliation over Medicine Cabinet Tax

by John Berlau

http://biggovernment.com/jberlau/2010/03/25/seeing-red-at-reconciliation-over-medicine-cabinet-tax/

“They won’t be so opposed to it once they see what’s in it.” That’s the rationalization House leaders gave skittish Democrats to get them to walk the plank on Obamacare Sunday night.

But one of the first things millions of Americans will “see” is an effective 40 percent tax hike on the over-the-counter medicines – from an antihistamine such as Claritin for allergies, pain relief medicine such as Tylenol or Excedrin, Pedialyte to prevent their kids from becoming dehydrated when they are sick, and even prenatal vitamins if they are expecting another one.

All of these items have two things in common. One is that they are classified as “over the counter” (OTC) medicines and available without a doctor’s prescription. The other is that if you pay for any of these items with money in your flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) – and according to this guide from FSA administrator Benesyst , all of these are eligible expenses — you will face an effective tax increase of up to 40 percent on these items in the health care bill that President Obama recently signed.

The bill restricts individuals with these pre-tax accounts to buying a “medicine or drug only if such medicine or drug is a prescribed” one. And ironically, this tax that will raise health care costs substantially by creating incentives for the use of more expensive prescription drugs even when OTC drugs are just as safe and effective.

And while the tax on “Cadillac” plans for union members was delayed in the reconciliation bill until 2018, no such luck for HSA and FSA account holders, many of whom are self-employed and entrepreneurs.

These heath care consumers and voters – and there are more than 40 million of them according to the Washington Times – will still “see” this tax hike go into effect at the beginning of 2011, the same as when I last reported in BigGovernment.com on this “medicine cabinet tax.” And if there were a couple smart politicians, Americans would “see” this tax as soon as this week’s reconciliation debate.

Both FSAs and HSAs allow Americans to pay for medical expenses with pretax dollars. An HSA goes along with a high-deductible insurance policy and gives individuals a tax deduction for money saved that can be used for health care expenses. An FSA has similar tax advantages, but contributions to it are deducted from an employee’s salary, and money in the account must be used by the end of the year.

In 2003, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service ruled that OTC medicines could be paid for by FSAs and the newly enacted HSAs. In a press release that sounded unusually compassionate for the IRS, the agency stated:

Drugs are increasingly becoming available over-the-counter without prescription. Many health plans no longer cover the cost of these drugs as over-the-counter. While an over-the-counter drug is less expensive than the prescription drug, the cost to many consumers increases because the price paid by the consumer for the over-the-counter drug is greater than the co-payment by the consumer when the drug was covered by insurance. This is especially an issue for individuals who remedy chronic health problems by regularly taking an over-the-counter medicine.

Then-Treasury Secretary John Snow added in the release, “Since many prescription drugs have moved to the over-the-counter market, this action today makes paying for them a little bit easier to swallow.”

Specifically, the government ruled that since the tax code written by Congress did not specifically require that “only medicines or drugs that require a physician’s prescription be taken into account” for health expenses, OTC medicines were eligible. The ruling made clear that although health accounts could not purchase items for general health such as toothpaste, they could be used for medicines that treat specific conditions, such as an “antacid, allergy medicine, pain reliever and cold medicine.” Companies that administer FSAs and HSAs have developed extensive lists of a variety of OTC items that are covered. The Benesyst guide fills two pages with an alphabetical list of eligible expenses that includes everything from analgesics to wound care.

But Section 9004 of the Senate bill the House ratified Sunday night, as well as Section 531 of the House bill that passed in November, changes the tax code so that “distribution for medicine” from HSAs and FSAs are “qualified only if for prescribed drug or insulin.” Yes, the bills are merciful enough to allow diabetics to purchase insulin under these tax plans, but if you or your family members need Pedialyte, prenatal vitamins or numerous other over the counter health items, you will see a tax hike that could be huge.

Since HSAs and FSA contributions are exempt from both income taxes and 15.3 percent payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare, and since these together can reach more than 40 percent of an employee’s salary, the effective tax increase on these medicines could be more than 40 percent.

And this tax change will almost certainly cost the health care system billions more dollars in unnecessary spending both to the government and private insurance plans. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the tax hike will bring in $5 billion in revenues over ten years – itself a drop in the bucket when compared to the bill’s new trillion-dollar entitlement – but that estimate doesn’t take into account behavioral changes as a direct result of this provision.

OTC drugs are much cheaper those available for prescription, but they could now be more expensive to individual consumers given that prescription drugs would still be eligible for favored treatment in the tax plans, and that insurance companies would be mandated to cover many of them. Consequently, any time a consumer has the slightest headache, the financial incentive would often be to see a doctor and get a prescription rather than go to the store and get medicine off the shelf.

This could mean that billions will be wasted on the additional costs for prescription drugs in instances when OTC medicines could be just as safe and effective at treating the illness. A 2005 study in the American Journal of Managed Care found that the Food and Drug Administration’s clearing of antihistamines such as loratadine (Claritin) for over-the-counter sale saves about $4 billion a year in health care costs. Ironically, the liberals and Democrats who normally rail against big pharmaceutical companies are now creating a huge windfall the firms that make expensive prescription drugs by penalizing users of OTC medicines.

The rallying cry for opponents of Obamacare has been “Hands off my health care.” In addition, they now could say, “Hands off my medicine cabinet.” And the fight could begin as soon as reconciliation. A smart politician could introduce an amendment to strike the medicine cabinet tax, arguing that under dynamic scoring which takes into account behavioral changes of taxpayers, the tax would cost the government more. If they need something else to pay for this fix, there is always the House’s costly repairs to certain “Cadillac” that 51 Senators could decide to ditch.



"The e-mail Bag"

You Might Be A Redneck

Thank you Jeff Foxworthy!

You think "taking out the trash" means taking your in-laws to a movie.

You have every episode of Hee-Haw on tape.

You've ever been involved in a custody fight over a hunting dog.

Your considered an expert on wormbeds.

Your kids take a siphon hose to "Show and Tell."