Health Savings Account Blog

Freedom

Its 4th of July weekend, and I'm thinking about freedom. There are always threats to our freedom and the most intelligent course is vigilence. Some threats to our freedoms come from terrorists and other enemies from outside the U.S. Others come from so-called "patriotic" Americans who want to take away your rights. Some want to take away to choose what you see on tv (your freedom of press), others want want to institutionalize a specific religion (your freedom of religion). And of course other factions want the government to have the right to spy on you, monitor your internet activity, and track the books you read (your freedom from unreasonable search and seizure).

It is my belief the core freedom that the Bill of Rights is designed to protect is freedom of thought and freedom of identity. By having the right to hang out with whomever I want, read whatever I want, say whatever I want, and practice my deepest spiritual beliefs in whatever way I choose, I am free to be who I am and think what (and how) I think. (I'm very wary of any one who claims they want to take any of those rights away from me, for my supposed benefit.)

Medical Freedom

One of the signers to the Constitution was Dr. Benjamin Rush, personal physician to George Washington. He did not wish for a group of people to be able to say what is "official" medicine, and what is outlawed, knowing that any group that gained this power would be looking out for their own interests, instead of the individual's.

Unfortunately, medical freedom never made it into the Bill of Rights. Nevertheless, in the United States we still have the freedom to choose our own health care to a large degree. Few Candians have the same freedom. In most of Canada it is illegal to purchase health insurance to cover anything that is also covered by the public healthcare system. Doctors are forbidden from selling their services for cash, if they are part of the public health system.

On June 9 of this year the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a Quebec law preventing people from buying private health insurance to pay for medical services available through the publicly funded system. You might wonder why anyone would want to buy private health insurance, if "free" public health insurance were available. Ask the guy who brought the lawsuit. He had to wait over a year for hip replacement surgery. In the U.S. this can usually be scheduled within 3 weeks or less. The flawed Canadian system has become notorious for very long waits (weeks or months) for many non-emergency operations.

In the decision, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justice John Major wrote "Access to a waiting list is not access to health care."

The Freedom a Health Savings Account (HSA) Offers

Individuals with Health Savings Accounts have even more freedom than most Americans, because they can use their HSA to pay for just about any type of health care, from any doctor they please. Your Blue Cross policy may not pay for Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment, but funds from your HSA sure will.

Find more information about owning a medical savings accounts at HSA for America