New Year Means New Changes In Drug Coverage

BOSTON — If you use a flexible savings account to pay for aspirin, allergy pills or heartburn remedies be ready: that will not be allowed as of Jan. 1.

Flexible savings accounts are the funds some employees set up so they can use pre-tax dollars for co-payments, deductibles and over-the-counter medications.

Rich Parker, medical director for the 1,800-member Beth Israel Deaconess Physicians Organization, says over-the-counter medications will not be eligible after Jan. 1 unless the patient has a prescription for ibuprofen or decongestants.

“So, the net affect of that will be thousands of unnecessary phone calls to our busy offices asking doctors to write ridiculous prescriptions for things that are over-the-counter, so all that will do is increase the work burden for doctors and their offices,” Parker said.

The change comes after Congress eliminated the flexible savings tax break to help fund expanded coverage under the new national health care law.