President Bush’s health care reform efforts appear to focus on expansion of Health Savings Accounts. I’m not sure how that reforms health care; it does have some impact on health care financing by switching some of the reimbursement from insurers to individuals, but other than that I’m hard pressed to see how HSAs will help lower health care costs.
In his January 21 radio address, Bush said “he would push to limit health care costs by expanding tax-free “Health Savings Accounts,” which let people set aside money for routine medical expenses.” (Houston Chronicle).
Most folks who know anything about health care costs attribute inflation to the aging population; the growth in technology; rising labor costs for hospitals; the burden of costs shifting from the uninsured to the insured; rising drug utilization and pricing; and perhaps a soupcon of defensive medicine.
In his address, Bush also said “For the sake of America’s small businesses, we must … make health care more affordable and accessible,” Bush said He also called for better price disclosure for medical services and expansion of health care coverage for the uninsured. (Reuters/Houston Chronicle, 1/21), as quoted in California HealthLine.
“I decided this is a national issue that requires a national response,” Bush said, adding that the government must ensure “that health care is available and affordable”…
Where health savings accounts fit on this list as a cure for a cause I can’t see. Are there limits on technology? Authority for CMS to negotiate with big pharma? A major new effort to train nurses? Stringent application of technology review by CMS? An effort to cover the uninsured through the expansion of Medicaid?
No.
What does this mean for you?
I guess it is up to the rest of us to fix health care. The Bush program is not exactly “reaching for the stars”.
Jan
23
I guess the HSA program is designed to “reward” people for not seeking health care or for shopping for the lowest priced healthcare. If the idea is to allow the “market” to begin to put pressure on physicians and others to lower their prices — aren’t the carriers in a much better position to influence prices than individuals?
The answer to that is “yes,” so then, why HSA’s?
HSA’s and tax credits for premiums may sound good on paper, but these ideas obviously come from someone who has money stashed in savings that they use to pay for expenses. Have they looked at the national savings rates lately?
Health Savings Accounts may significantly improve some issues in quality and cost but it is nuts to assume it alone will have any influence over the major cost drivers, such as high hospital overhead, poorly integrated outpatient care, and weaknesses in insurer investment in improving care in a cost effective manner.
The Bush Administration is simply trying to dodge the boulder bouncing down the hill it is direction.