Free Republic

Health Reform: Health Savings Accounts are a proven free-market health-reform idea. No wonder the Obama administration has been trying to kill them off. This year, it might finally succeed.

Health Care: Republicans pushed a bill that would let small businesses continue to offer high-deductible plans to employees, despite ObamaCare. Sounds like a good idea. So why did the leadership try to hide it? The original plan for ObamaCare was to force every business with 50 or more employees to provide "affordable" coverage or pay a stiff fine, plus to sharply restrict the plans they could offer by, among other things, capping deductibles at $2,000 for workers. The cap was little more than a stealth attempt by Democrats to wreck Health Savings Accounts, which trade off high deductibles for tax-free...

[Snip] Simply repealing ObamaCare might save the country from the certain financial and health care disasters it would bring, but repeal alone doesn’t address the noble goal of ensuring as many people as possible, and the necessary goal of curbing runaway health care inflation.  [Snip] ...in health care have we somehow reached a place where we use insurance to pay for things that have very high probabilities of occurring.   [Snip] Here’s where things go awry.If an insurance company is certain that they’re going to pay, say, $2,500 in claims on a policy each year, then they need to collect at...

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.

Bryan Caplan of EconLog has an interesting blog post on Singapore’s Health Care System. In the post, he reviews Ghesquiere’s “Singapore’s Success,” analyzing Singapore’s health care system. Harford finds that Singapore spends a third of what the U.S. does on health care (as a percentage of GDP) yet has better health indicators. Of course, much of this may be attributable to lifestyle differences rather than a superior health care system. Nevertheless, the Singapore system has some very interesting characteristics: * There are mandatory health savings accounts: “Individuals pre-save for medical expenses through mandatory deductions from their paychecks and employer contributions…...

In The Undercover Economist, Tim Harford highly praised the health care policies of Singapore. But it wasn't until I read the section on health care in Ghesquiere's Singapore's Success that I realized how amazing the official numbers are. If the following is true, all the comparisons showing that the U.S. greatly outspends Europe without getting better health are beside the point, because Singapore makes Europe look like the U.S.: The Singapore government spent only 1.3 percent of GDP on healthcare in 2002, whereas the combined public and private expenditure on healthcare amounted to a low 4.3 percent of GDP. By...

Many companies these days offer what are commonly called either health care or dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSA). Surprisingly, very few employees take advantage of this fantastic benefit. According to a survey published by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans in 2008, less than 40% of eligible employees who had the option available to them used a health care FSA, and less than 10% of eligible employees utilized a dependent care FSA if it was available.

Candidates for president have plans to get more people health insurance. Some would compel us to buy it; others would use the tax code to encourage that. Regardless, insurance is the magic that will solve our health-care problems. But contrary to conventional wisdom, it's not those without health insurance who are the problem, but rather those with it. They make medical care more expensive for everyone. We'd each be better off if we paid all but the biggest medical bills out of pocket and saved insurance for catastrophic events. Truly needy people would rely on charity, not government, because once...

Consumer-driven health care is beginning to show real signs of progress. A recent survey by America's Health Insurance Plans found that the number of people with a health savings account (HSA) tripled, from 1 million to 3 million, in barely a year's time. Companies are finding that high-deductible plans coupled with an HSA cost less. In his recent visit to Milwaukee, President Bush pointed to the hamburger giant Wendy's, which saw an increase of only 1 percent in its premiums after switching to an HSA plan. Although I haven't had much to cheer about regarding the White House as of...

Insurance Chief Criticizes Health Savings AccountsSuch plans that reduce benefits to save money are symptoms of the rising costs of health coverage, Garamendi says in a report. By Debora Vrana Times Staff Writer August 3, 2005 California's insurance commissioner plans to issue a report today criticizing health savings accounts and other "consumer-driven" insurance plans as part of the problem of spiraling costs — not the solution. Saying the state's healthcare system is headed for a "complete breakdown," John Garamendi sharply attacked new insurance plans — including some backed by the White House — that offer reduced benefits to save money....

How many times have you heard that health care costs are rising at record rates? Well, they aren't any more. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that health care costs rose 7.5 percent in 2004, well under the 11.4 percent rise in 2002. The BLS also reports that costs for employers for health insurance per employee per hour worked has slowed down even more. From March 2001 to March 2002, it rose 11 perecnt; from March 2002 to March 2004, it rose 9 percent each year. But from March 2004 to December 2004, it rose only 3 percent. Something is...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that health-care costs rose 7.5 percent in 2004, well under the 11.4-percent rise in 2002. The BLS also reports that employers’ costs for health insurance per employee per hour worked has slowed even more. From March 2001 to March 2002, it rose 11 percent; from March 2002 to March 2004, it rose 9 percent each year. But from March 2004 to December 2004, it rose only 3 percent. Something is going on out there. Politicians and political commentators always assume that government must do something new and different if healthcare costs are to be...