Health Savings Accounts - for the healthy rich

[Denver Dave]

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) were mentioned in President Bush's State of the Union Address tonight. What he did not mention is that Health Savings Accounts only benefit the healthy rich.

Must be healthy
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First what was not mentioned was that to qualify for a Health Savings Account you have to already have qualified high deductible health insurance. If you have a pre-existing condition and are denied health insurance, you can not have an HSA

Best to be rich
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Second, you have to have enough money to pay for health insurance and also have enough money left over to contribute to an HSA.

Health Savings Accounts can be a great tax shelter for healthy rich people to stash money away. However, the people that need health care help the most - people that do not qualify for health insurance or do not have money left over to contribute to an HSA, do not benefit at all.

Health Savings Accounts are for healthy rich people.

Agree - disagree - have an opinion? Join in our discussion about Health Savings Accounts:
http://hctalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=46

And information sharing page for Health Savings Accounts at:
http://coloradohealth.info/?p=26

[CAG]

1. This coming at a time when we have a NEGATIVE savings rate for

the first time since the great depression.

I assure you that people who think Health Savings Plans are a good idea either
1) don't know anything about the details or
2) is actually signed up and have not had the misfortune of actually being sick yet and facing all of the bills.

[Journeyman]

2. Or they see it as a great idea because they'll be able to put some money i

and keep a little for themselves so they can "party hardy." Twenty, thirty years from now, when the piper comes a'callin' and they get sick (as all of us do), they'll be back at the public trough, hoping for assistance to see them through their "troubles.' And the harsh truth may be, there isn't any help for those who made the sacrifices, let alone those who saved & spent foolishly.

[Warpy]

3. It also helps if you're young, as well as healthy and rich

because the incentive is to shop around for services when you need them and to avoid any services you think you can manage to. This is not going to happen with anyone over 40, since the illnesses may happen quickly and be life threatening, leaving little time to make phone calls looking for the cheapest hospital bed in town.

Insurance companies were the people who were supposed to be negotiating lower cost health care with providers. They had a lot of money behind them and did quite a good job of doing that. An individual who is ill enough will be over a barrel in the best of circumstances and unable to negotiate much of anything with a provider, especially a break on the fee.

This is a stupid plan, something only a spoiled and ignorant rich man would come up with, assisted by his buddies in the corporate world who are sick of keeping their employees healthy. I sincerely hope the Dems put out their own take on Harry & Louise to point out the massive flaws in this incredibly silly idea.

[Lefty48197]

4. I agree.

The problem with our health care system is that the costs are so high for consumers, that many people are denied coverage for economic reasons.
If they don't have money for health care coverage, where are they going to find the money to put in their health care savings accounts?

[FM Arouet666]

5. Your right

I have an HSA, I am a doc, and I agree. Bush is full of shit, as usual. HSAs are beneficial for higher income professionals, but they do ZERO to address the health care crisis in this country. If you are poor you will qualify for Medicaid or state sponsored health care. However, if you earn a bit over the poverty level and are too young to qualify for Medicare, you are fucked. If your job does not offer benefits and are in the lower income levels you can't afford health insurance. Moreover, there is no state or federal provision to cover you. Universal coverage is what is needed. If the rich want HSAs, great knock yourself out, but everyone must have coverage. We spend billions of dollars for the folly in Iraq, tax cuts for the super rich, and yet there is no universal coverage? Greatest nation on earth? Guess it is only great if your a rich republican.

[area51]

6. "Universal coverage is what is needed."

I think I love you, doc. :evilgrin:

[Angry Girl]

7. Not only that, but the FDA and food corporations are poisoning people

Highly processed foods, mostly empty carbs, with additives such as Donald Rumsfeld's aspartame -- where the damage won't show for years -- tainted meats (mad cow, E. coli, et al.), nitrates and nitrites, growth hormones, antibiotics, mercury-laden fish.

Pesticides everywhere. And even if we ban some of the worst in the U.S., we then import vegetables and fruits from countries that use these banned pesticides!

Tainted water: fluoride, arsenic, rocket fuel....

Poisonous cookware: Teflon, aluminum....

Oh wait, let's not forget the increased pollutants in the air and water, sanctioned by the Bushies, yet again. How many hundreds of thousands of people does that affect?

Have a nice day. *sigh*