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TAMPA, FL -- Inside the Channelside art gallery "Paintings of the World" you find a lot of paintings, not a lot of people.
"We've had to cut our sales staff from eight to I have to work by myself now seven days a week," says gallery owner Chuck Kessock.
The bad economy means slow sales for art dealer Kessock. "My dear wife Sylvia works two jobs and yes we're still finding it tough," he says.
But one thing that helps them manage is their Flexible Spending Account, or FSA.
Millions of Americans use FSA's to pay for things like co-pays, and prescription drugs, things insurance doesn't.
Chuck says they contribute 5,000 dollars a year, pre-tax, to their FSA. But the Democratic health care reform bill would cap contributions at $2,500.
"Any way to make a dollar or basically save some money it really helps a lot so this will hurt us a lot," Kessock says.
So how does this small business owner feel about the Democrats health care reform?
"Oh I'm definitely for it," he says.
That may surprise you. But Kessock says health care reform could be something that will help his family down the road and he adds, will help a lot of people today.
"It's gonna get worse out there," he says.
"Some of us are saying, you know I'm willing to pay somewhat of a premium, a tax, something extra, to create a public option because I may need it," say Dr. Jay Wolfson, a public health policy expert at the University of South Florida.
But, Wolfson warns the cap on FSA’s could wind up taxing a population who can least afford it, the middle class. "These are middle class people who make between $40 and $80 thousand dollars a year," he says.
The Associated Press reports that cap could raise $13 billion in new taxes over the next decade to help pay for reform.
And, many have previously criticized FSAs because they use it or lose it accounts. In that sense the cap could actually keep people from losing money if they don't budget right.
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