Dear Senator:
President Obama, speaking on Health Care Reform, promised that if it passes, “you’ll save money.” According to Investors.com, Congress is looking to use health care reform legislation to kill Health Savings Accounts. If this happens, President Obama’s statement will be factually incorrect for a couple of reasons:
HSAs are money that is saved before taxes are applied, for the use of medical care. If HSAs are gone, that income is now taxed, and every HSA owner will lose 1/3rd or more of what he has chosen to put towards HSA. This can mean thousands in losses for families with HSAs.
HSAs give people much needed choice in bringing down health care costs. People maximize the benefit of their HSAs by choosing the lowest cost medical services. With this incentive gone, there is no reason for people to self-ration their health care. Costs will go up, and the taxpayers will foot the bill.
I appreciate the intent on making health care more affordable for everybody. This is not the way.
Thank you for your time.
iggyantiochus on 
Dan
Dan,
Thank you for writing this letter. I have an HSA, and this is something I have been concerned about as we watch the clouds of impending Health Care Reform (a.k.a Health Care Doom) roll in. Whether the money is taxable or not I intend to keep laying aside exactly the same (and after the mortgage is payed off — more) money each month for health care expenses.
I am no expert on the subject, but my gut tells me the fundamental problem in the health care insurance business is the coverage for ordinary preventive health care. It does not fit into the basic of mission of insurance, which is to cover the risk of catastrophic loss. It is this fundamental difference in philosophy that motivated me to change from a PPO to a high-deductible health plan. I don’t want the government or the insurance provider to pay for ordinary medical services. Let me do that, and I will pay them a premium to assume the risk that I might someday obtain a bed in the ICU.
And as long as we are discussing the proposals before Congress, let’s not be unclear about what they are. They are a government takeover of the entire healthcare industry. Maybe not on Day 1, or even over the course of a year or a decade. But when the government inserts itself into the health insurance eventually, unless it props up certain “competitors” to maintain a charade (which doesn’t seem so far-fetched given recent interventionist shenanigans), the government will one day be the only player in the market.
Thanks again.