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Health Savings Accounts and Medical Choice

September 21, 2005 05:47 PM

The time has come for medical savings accounts. The latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has a somewhat dispassionate and brief article on Medical Savings Accounts. If this Congress gets only the expansion of health savings accounts for individuals right in a way that 1. removes the tax deduction for employee benefits and 2. opens health savings accounts broadly to all (the self-employed are most likely to use this program), and 3. lets employees opt out of employer-sponsored benefits packages for cash value provided they take a health savings account, they will have made a major change in the US health care market. Consumers, rather than doctors, insurance companies, employers and government agencies, will be put in charge of medical expenditures.

· Everything

Comments

Posted by: Flower Online [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 11, 2006 6:24 PM

Mass adoption of employee benefits came as a result of prize freezes during World War II. Since economics cannot be repealed (as much as politicians would like that to be the case), companies began offering benefits in lieu of increased wages.

Allowing corporations to offer tax-free benefits without giving the same tax deduction to all Americans is not only unfair, but it has resulted in a health insurance system in which no one nows the actual cost, and there is little competitive pressure on healthcare providers.

By allowing plans with high deductibles to be paired with Health Savings Accounts, insurance becomes what it was meant to be - protection against unexpected losses, not coverage for every little cold and sniffle.

Another beauty of HSAs is that you can spend your tax-free healthcare dollars in virtually any way you want, whether that be a chiropractor, Chinese medicine, or even a faith healer. Even nutritional supplements can be tax-deductible if your healthcare provider prescribes them to treat or prevent a specific health problem.

I'll go ahead and plug my website if you'll allow me Art - www.HSAforAmerica.com. We've got complete information on these plans and how they work.

I love the blog, keep up the great work!

Wiley

Posted by: Wiley Long [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 22, 2005 9:39 AM

I'm a big fan of MSA's, but I don't see how you get past the political problem caused by removing the corporate tax deduction on bennies. Guys like Kennedy will be on the rampage roasting the administration for "screwing the little guy"(Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment) and as impotent as they've become nationally I just don't see unions laying down for that; it was their idea in the first place.

Would be tough to get many House GOP backbenchers to agree to what would look like(and is, in effect) a tax hike on the "working man".

Posted by: dfobare [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 21, 2005 7:16 PM

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