Proponents of the federal government’s push to further politicize the delivery of medical care in this country have continuously touted that part of their “reform’s” benefits will be choice and competition for health insurance, and that nobody will lose their current coverage if they like it.
This WSJ article exposes that lie. Consumer-driven health care plans, such as a low premium/high-deductible plan combined with a health savings account (HSA) are targeted by some regulations in the current overhaul proposals.
The Reid bill also assaults health savings accounts, or HSAs, which allow individuals to accumulate tax-free funds for future medical expenses when coupled with low-premium, high-deductible insurance. The Reid bill changes tax provisions to make HSAs less attractive, but the real threat comes via increased regulation.
These insurance products will likely be barred from the insurance “exchanges” that will demolish and supplant today’s individual market. Employers will also find them more difficult if not illegal to offer once the government has new powers to “define the essential health benefits” that all plans must eventually offer. Plans that focus mainly on catastrophic health expenses, instead of routine procedures, aren’t generous enough for Democrats.
Politicians hate HSA-type plans because they give more power to the consumer and actually introduce a sliver of market discipline in the medical care industry. Therefore, they must be eliminated. Purging the medical care and health insurance industries of whatever tiny morsels of a free market remain are a must in order for the government’s ultimate goal of a completely centrally-planned and controlled system.
The only “choice” involved will be bureaucrats choosing every detail for us, and the only “competition” we’ll have is between patients fighting to see a shrinking pool of doctors.
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