Health Savings Accounts: a tax-sheltered way to pay for quackery

[Yo_Mama]

75. In general, if you can get a physician to sign a letter of medical necessity it is not quackery.

There really isn't that much bullshit covered - the natural incentive to the person is NOT to spend their money on useless treatments.

There are masses of non-quack treatments and medicines which are not covered by insurance, as well as the increasing co-pays and deductibles.

For example, non-generic prescriptions will often not be covered or have little coverage even when the individual is allergic to generics, or the generics don't work.

Many prescription medicines are approved for certain uses (label). But the medications are commonly prescribed by doctors for other conditions, and now insurance companies often refuse to cover that cost.

I'll give you an example:
- Sildenafil (Viagra) can be used quite effectively in many people to treat PAD (Peripheral Arterial Dysfunction) and claudication. It seems to work especially well for leg-cramps limiting activity (claudication). Not only does it remit the symptoms, but because it helps blood flow it seems to help the body grow new blood vessels:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17585066

I haven't been able to get any insurance companies to cover it. So I work with a female patient who needs it, and she has to pay for it out of pocket. This is not quackery. In many cases there is an underlying genetic defect:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19770400

Any attempt to eliminate the "quackery" is going to eliminate more solidly-based medical treatment than quackery.