Health Savings Account Blog

Currently, people without health coverage often don’t get any preventive care, and only seek emergency care after medical conditions become acute. Health care facilities then have the absorb the uncompensated cost of services to these individuals, and then shift the cost to those who have insurance. The result is higher insurance premiums, and possibly even more people without coverage.

Before someone is allowed to drive a car in this country, the car must be insured. This is to prevent that individual from imposing expenses that are theirs (such as damage they do by causing a vehicle accident) onto others. Requiring individuals to carry health insurance would have similar benefits.

- By requiring individual coverage by those who can afford it, people would become personally responsible for their own health and healthcare expenses.

- Subsidies for those who cannot afford the most basic coverage acknowledges the social responsibility society has.

- A properly structured plan that encourages consumerism (such as Health Savings Accounts do) would not only provide access to health care but would also do much to ease the financial crisis facing health care.

These suggestions would be fair to all, would allow more Americans to benefit from the private-sector health care that most Americans receive through their employers, and would be much more cost-effective than any government-run socialized system.

Source: Jack Lewin and Ronald A. Williams, "Cover Yourself!" Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2005.

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