Thank you, Chairman Boustany, for holding this hearing today. Health care is an important topic that touches the lives of millions of Americans.
The Affordable Care Act will expand comprehensive health insurance coverage to over 30 million Americans and has already insured millions of young adults and people with pre-existing conditions. It contains important insurance reforms that will benefit both those who are insured today and those who are not insured.
The Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit by over $120 billion over 10 years and over a trillion dollars over 20 years. The Act did not add to the deficit and was fully paid for by a number of provisions. One of those provisions is before us today-a provision that affects the tax treatment of reimbursements for over-the-counter medicines from certain tax-favored accounts. The provision before us today raised about $5 billion.
This provision was initially suggested in a 2005 report from the Joint Committee on Taxation as an option to improve tax compliance. The new rule states that over-the-counter medications may no longer be reimbursed from Flex Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, or Health Reimbursement Accounts, without a prescription from a physician.
I look forward to hearing from the witnesses today. I would like to learn more about how the new rule is affecting taxpayers and the health care system, and how any changes to this provision would interface with the notion and desire for tax reform. Many people, including some on this committee, have said that we should eliminate all tax expenditure programs, which are those specialty programs that affect only certain populations within the tax code, and this provision would fall within the category of one of those tax expenditure programs. I am very interested to see what the witnesses have to say on that matter.
I thank witnesses for their testimony and willingness to share their experiences.
Thank you.
