A Brief History of Health Savings Accounts
Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), writes:
- I
n January 1984, the NCPA published a plan to use individually-owned “medical IRAs” to solve the long-term problem of Medicare. - Two months later, NCPA President John Goodman and Richard Rahn, then chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, outlined this plan in a Wall Street Journal article.
- That same year Singapore introduced a mandatory “Medisave” program.
Goodman and Senior Fellow Gerald Musgrave wrote a seminal study documenting opportunities in the United States to select high-deductible health insurance and place the premium savings in a personal health account to pay for small medical expenses.
In 1990, the NCPA organized a taskforce of researchers from 40 think tanks, universities and research organizations, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute and the Hoover Institution. The report advocated self-insurance for small medical bills through Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs).
Capitol Hill responded quickly. In 1992, 12 different bills designed to create Medical Savings Accounts received the bipartisan support of 150 congressional cosponsors, including both conservatives and liberals. (More)
An innovation that is still underutilized in my opinion.
And ironically has had some of the reigns on it loosened by Obama.
Indeed. Uncertainty follows any piece of legislation that large.
A rare case where public interests develop a genuinely creative and cost-effective idea.
“In 1990, the NCPA organized a taskforce of researchers from 40 think tanks, universities and research organizations, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute and the Hoover Institution. The report advocated self-insurance for small medical bills through Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs).” It’s rare to see a large fold of policy groups agree on something.
It normally means it’s a good idea.
What HSA fans originally thought would kill HSAs may actually invigorate them. By some estimates, three-quarters of the Bronze plans are HSA-qualified.
The average deductible in the exchange is much higher than the Administration originally estimated. Basically, people are opting for lower premiums, higher deductibles; and to control more of their own health care dollars. Many of the exchange plan enrollees apparently prefer not to pay higher premiums and cede control of small medical bills to third-party insurers.
These are all positive developments.
Doesn’t this preference for lower premiums over lower deductibles create higher out-of-pocket costs in the end?
So something good finally came from Obamacare? Now THAT’S surprising.
It’s present more faults than it should but is not damaging throughout. After all, coverage is improved overall.
^ Ditto. With such a flux of plans, it’s hard to know which one makes the most sense.
It’s nice to see the NCPA’s ideas spreading and being implemented.
Trevor thinks higher deductibles lead to higher costs overall.
That may be true, depending on the timing of the costs. At National Prosperity Life and Health we offer lower premiums each month a claim is not filed
Don Levit