Bush Seeks to Increase Health Savings Accounts
In his State of the Union speech last week, President Bush gave short shrift — just 165 words — to the subject of health care. Still, administration officials say finding an antidote to rising costs will be a priority for the White House this year.
Bush’s prescription includes promoting health savings accounts (HSAs) and “consumer-driven” health plans that he says will trim expenses by prodding Americans to assume greater responsibility for their health care choices.
“We will strengthen health savings accounts, making sure individuals and small-business employees can buy insurance with the same advantages that people working for big businesses now get,” the president said in his speech.
As Bush seeks to increase the popularity of such plans nationally, his administration already has put federal employees in the vanguard of the effort. Within the past three years, the Office of Personnel Management has established 33 HSAs and other consumer-driven plans as part of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan.
So far the results have been modest. The plans have attracted 24,000 enrollees in a population that numbers in the millions, according to OPM. But officials say the numbers are growing.
My question is this: How do people who must choose between the light bill and the house payment manage to “save” for their health care?
This plan seems to exclude the working poor. Unless I’m missing something, then people that work for minimum wage and have maybe two or three jobs (and still can’t afford to pay all of their bills when they’re due) won’t be able to put money aside in a health savings account. How is this benefiting the regular person? It doesn’t, it’s a Bush plan.
Not everyone is a fan. Dan Adcock, assistant legislative director for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, said such plans could drive up costs for some workers. “You are going to have a migration to the consumer-driven plans by people who tend to be lower users of health care, and people who tend to be higher users of health care will remain in the comprehensive plans,” Adcock said. “When that happens . . . those plans have to increase premiums or cut benefits, or both of those things, in order to stay in business.”
A Government Accountability Office report last week found that enrollees in federal consumer-driven plans were younger and wealthier than those in other plans.
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