It is a tough issue, and I wish I had the answers...
I think these two parts of his plan would help the situation:
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3- Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premium payments from their tax returns.
As we allow the free market to provide insurance coverage opportunities to companies and individuals, we must also make sure that no one slips through the cracks simply because they cannot afford insurance.
4- Allow individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Contributions into HSAs should be tax-free and should be allowed to accumulate.
"Allow individuals"
If Trump is not for repeal....he is a liberal. Cruz is for repeal.
It is a tough issue, and I wish I had the answers...
I think these two parts of his plan would help the situation:
-
3- Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premium payments from their tax returns.
As we allow the free market to provide insurance coverage opportunities to companies and individuals, we must also make sure that no one slips through the cracks simply because they cannot afford insurance.
4- Allow individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Contributions into HSAs should be tax-free and should be allowed to accumulate.>>> i agree said something similar on an earlier post.
Yes. More people have skin in the game and they are incentivized to do so with the HSA and tax deductions.
I have an HSA now
I dont see very much here that changes over what is currently in place and has been in place on HSAs even before Obamacare.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969/ar02.html#en_US_2015_publink1000204020
http://www.hsacenter.com/faqs.html
As of right now anyone enrolled in a qualified High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) is eligible to open a Health Savings Account (HSA). A HDHP can be offered through an employer and the HSA administered through the employers heath plan insurer or 3rd party administrator or it a can be a privately purchased HDHP insurance plan and the individual can open an individual HSA through most banks.
If through an employer sponsored plan, the employee contributions are deducted from payroll pre-tax (i.e. tax free subtracted from Box 1 federal taxable earnings) and employer contributions if any are also tax free, subject to the annual contribution limits. Individual contributions to an HSA paid for with post tax dollars whether to an employer sponsored HSA or a private HSA paired with a private HDHP are tax deductible, subject to the current annual limits ($3,350 for individual coverage and $6,650 for family coverage).
As long as enrolled in a qualified HDHP, tax free contributions up to the current annual limits can be made and the funds, whether contributed by the individual, employee or employer or a combination are 100% retained by the employee and is currently portable if the employee changes jobs or changes insurance plans. If no longer enrolled in an employer or individual HDHP, while one can no longer make tax free contributions they can still use, tax free the available funds for qualified medical expenses, including deductibles. At age 65, withdrawals from an HSA can be used for any purpose without penalties but such withdrawals are subject to ordinary income tax.
Unlike an employer sponsored FSA, HSAs currently do accumulate and the funds roll over from year to year, and if one changes employers or changes plans, as long as they enroll in another qualified HDHP, the funds can be rolled over to a new HSA, or if not enrolled in a HDHP, they can still retain their existing HSA account, and currently once the funds reach a certain amount, the funds can be invested and earnings from those investments are also tax free if used for qualified medical expenses or tax deferred if withdrawn after the age of 65 for non-medical expenses. And as of right now, qualified medical expenses include unreimbursed medical expenses of the accountholder, his or her spouse, or dependents, even if they are not covered under the accountholders HDHP.
Currently when a person dies, the funds in their HSA are transferred to the beneficiary named for the account. If the beneficiary is a surviving spouse, the transfer is tax-free. If the beneficiary is not a spouse, the account stops being an HSA, and the fair market value of the HSA becomes taxable to the beneficiary in the year in which the HSA owner dies.
I would be a lot more impressed if Trumps plan detailed things like opening up HSAs to everyone whether enrolled in a HDHP or not, greatly increasing the annual contribution limits, open it up to persons currently enrolled in Medicare, allow people to use funds tax free from the HSA to pay for health insurance premiums other than COBRA or LTC premiums, allow HSA funds to pay for certain OTC medications without an Rx (like FSAs once did), and allow non-spouse beneficiaries to inherit HSA funds tax free.
But I dont see any of that outlined in Trumps plan so from my reading, what he proposes for HSAs doesnt change anything that isnt currently in place.