If the newly elected Republicans in Congress have a wit’s sense, they will immediately get rid of Obamacare and open the limits on Health Savings Accounts, and allow them to rollover the money year to year. They should allow people to purchase health insurance with them, which means that an individual would get the same tax break business gets to purchase healthcare. Then they would get rid of the RICO threats to physicians who discuss prices and let docs publish their fee schedules, allowing people to decide whether they will shop for price as one option in choosing a physician. For every dollar someone spends from a Health Savings account, the federal government only “loses” the tax break, which equals their marginal tax rate, say 29% or so. Basically, that means that the government is getting healthcare for it’s citizens for 29 cents on the dollar. And when fee schedules become available to the public, I think you will see fees go down, not up as the government claims they will if doctors discuss fees with each other.
The only problem is that no citizen owes his elected officials in Washington his vote because he promises to “save Medicare” or “save Healthcare”, which I think is the real hindrance for most of Washington, Pubbies included. I hope the new batch prove me wrong.
Health Savings Accounts DO roll over from year to year and are set up similar to 401k’s. It’s the Flexible Spending Accounts are the “use it or lose it” model.