Health Savings Account Blog

What got us here? Excess government regulations and burdensome liability practices make health care more expensive and less obtainable for millions of Americans, while a lack of consumer choice and market-based solutions prevent an out-of-control system from righting itself.

Market competition has driven down the cost of many other products and services, and the same free-market principles brought to bear on health care can give us the same result while halting a drift toward socialized medicine, with its rationing and price caps.

Socialized national health care isn't working in other countries, unless you or your family never get sick. Even emergency illness or injury treatment can be delayed as rationing determines when and who gets care.

Consumerism already works in America's health sector. Studies show that Health Savings Accounts lower costs while maintaining access to health care.

One study determined that HSA-eligible plans now cover at least 3 million individuals.

HSAs are particularly attractive to individuals and small businesses that previously lacked insurance.

After two years, 37 percent of individual policies were purchased by previously uninsured people and 27 percent of small employers offering HSA-eligible plans did not previously provide coverage.

Some say HSAs will be attractive only to the young and healthy. Not true!

Studies show 40 percent of Health Savings Account purchasers make less than $50,000 a year; a majority are families with children; about half are over age 40; nearly two-thirds paid $100 a month or less for their plans; and most cover 100 percent of the costs of hospitalization, lab tests, emergency room visits, prescription drugs, and doctor visits after the deductible is met.

Congress still has work to do. First, we must acknowledge this is not a Republican or a Democrat problem, it is an American problem. Partisanship does not get American families access to affordable health care.

We need market-driven alternatives to create a system that helps vulnerable populations receive care and build self-sufficiency. And, we must use new technologies to implement such cost-saving techniques as electronic medical records, electronic records transfer, debit card-type payment systems, and portable health care coverage.

America has the best health care in the world, but our health care delivery system is bogged down in government bureaucracy and red tape, wracked by lawsuit abuse, and unable to keep pace with technological advances.

Moving past these barriers will bring us to common sense solutions that are crucial for the future of all American families.