Major Breakthrough; Timid Step Forward
This is something the Bush Administration never was willing to even consider
The Obama administration loosened rules governing health-care savings accounts known as flexible-spending arrangements, or FSAs, allowing consumers to roll over as much as $500 in unused funds each year. (WSJ)
This means the accounts will partially function just like Health Saving Accounts. Employers potentially will be able to put up to $500 in an account for every employee and let that integrate with an overall health plan with none of the restrictions that hamper HSAs.
This is 35 million people, in addition to the 30 or so million that already have an HSA or HRA.
But why only $500? Why not the full amount? $2,500 is the new allowable contribution.
It’s not a timid response. It’s a pitiful response.
It’s the response of someone who wants to appease his detractors without actually giving them something.
This makes absolutely no sense.
To be fair, most of what they do doesn’t make any sense.
It’s a madhouse! A MADHOUSE!
“But why only $500? Why not the full amount? $2,500 is the new allowable contribution.”
That’s a good question. It seems arbitrary to say “This much, but no more.”
It’s entirely arbitrary, which shows the political nature of the decision.
Thankfully, they’ve hurt themselves enough with this that I doubt it will help much.
At least Obama finally did SOMETHING right with healthcare.
Too little, too late.
And too much that he’s done wrong to balance out.
And yet you’ll still have conservatives who think Obama doesn’t want what’s best for people. We just have different ways of looking at things.
Yeah, some of us look at $500 and say that that’s not nearly enough, others say that you should be happy your overlords gave you anything at all. There’s no reality, just how we feel about it.
What can you buy in healthcare for $500? I’m sure it can really take a chunk out of drug costs, but it wouldn’t do much for something serious.
Which (considering how much they COULD help with) makes this decision seem all the more pitiful.