Replace ObamaCare Mandate With New Health Savings Accounts

IBD's Capital Hill ^ | 2/17/2011 | Jed Graham

[Slyscribe]

Here’s an idea to replace the controversial individual mandate to buy health insurance while taking an important step toward rationalizing counterproductive incentives that drive up the cost of care both for individuals and the government.

The basic idea involves repurposing a portion of the outlays under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (better known as ObamaCare) from straightforward premium subsidies into deposits into new national health savings accounts.

Simply put: No qualifying coverage for a year; no account deposit — not just for one year but for several.

[JennysCool]

How about we just LEAVE HEALTH CARE TO THE PATIENT AND HIS OR HER DOCTOR?

Government has no reason to butt in other than pure vote-pandering.

[PGR88]

Just stop the damn bureaucratic tinkering. Whatever the rule, benefit or subsidy that is written, someone will be able to game it, someone will pay off politicians to increase or change it, and everyone will pay more because of it.

[griswold3]

Yes! Yes! Yes!
Catastrophic health care coverage backed up with a Health savings account that could be used for ANY medical purpose!
You could use that in your golden years to pay for services that Medicare denies. (Medicare has the largest record of denial of services.)

[FormerACLUmember]

AMEN!

Best post of the year, IMHO.

[GSWarrior]

This year I eschewed the usual crappy insurance plan my non-profit employer offers for a modified HSA. My employer puts $100 a month into my HSA and I put in $50 a month.

My deductible is now $3500 a year (it had risen to $750 under the old plan). I can use my HSA funds against the deductible or I can use it for many things my old insurance plan wouldn't cover, such as vision care.

What I like best is that it covers 80 percent of catastrophic care, whereas the old plan coverage was down to 60 percent.

Of course the far left doesn't this plan because, well, it offers me more choices, I guess.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

NO.

[youngidiot]

I have a HSA and it was recently changed where I can buy far fewer things with it. For instance, I used to buy things such as over the counter cough medicine with it. Now I can only use it for prescription cough medicine.

[Mister Da]

Repeal Obamacare & actually fix our health care system. Pass some effective tort reform. Open up insurance markets. Repeal bad regulations. Allow much more free market into the system to encourage efficiency & innovation. Pursue fraud relentlessly. Make Medicare/Medicaid sustainable, affordable programs or cancel them. Stop the money drain the illegals are causing our HC system.

With the resulting savings & lower costs, which ARE possible, we might have the money to help those Americans w/o HC insurance; or by these efforts, HC becomes more affordable for everyone.

[Siena Dreaming]

I used to buy things such as over the counter cough medicine with it. Now I can only use it for prescription cough medicine

I believe Obamacare mandated that such HSA rules would be changed for the worse so people would get disillusioned with HSA's and sign on to Obamacare.

That may be what's happening in your case.

[youngidiot]

I believe Obamacare mandated that such HSA rules would be changed for the worse so people would get disillusioned with HSA's and sign on to Obamacare.

That may be what's happening in your case.

I think you're right. We had to switch insurance companies too, when our rates went up almost 300%. Thanks, democraps.