The Health Insurance Dilemma -Part 2

3) Another feature of the McCain plan is HSA, Health Savings Accounts- HSAs are gaining popularity. The outline reads: “When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decision and often decide against unnecessary options.  Health Savings Accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.”

My comment:  The health insurance industry is so messed up that an HSA is the best option to control your costs.  Most HSA policies for an individual start with a $1000.00 deductible, families are $2200.00 deductible.  All medical and pharmaceutical costs come from your savings account until you meet the deductible, then the HSA kicks in to cover medical and pharmaceutical costs at 100%, only one had a weird nickel and dime set up.  Catastrophic coverage is anywhere from $3 to $8 million dollars.  An HSA is not as cheap as HMOs, but are often less than PPO plans, and they do offer you the choice to see any doctor like a PPO.  People with chronic illness can participate in an HSA and be well covered, unlike the limiting HMO network care.  What many people get hung up on are copays.  In their mind, copays mean better health insurance coverage.  The reality is you are paying for the copay every month and often paying more money than what you would use in a year for office visits, prescriptions etc. An HSA would allow you to set up funds toward those visits and if you don't use it, it rolls over for the following year and you can either continue to contribute the same amount of money, or cut down on your contribution to the account.  An HSA is tax free and interest is deferred unless used for qaulified medical expenses and then the interest is tax free.  At age 65 you can use anything left in the account for out of pocket costs that medicare doesn't cover like prescription drugs.   You may withdrawl the money at anytime, but over 65 pays income tax and under 65 pays a penalty and income tax.  So I agree with McCain that more people need to understand an HSA option, but he is NOT presenting something new, he is merely supporting existing programs.

4) McCain’s plan for the uninsured is Guaranteed Access Plan.  The site states “ As President, John McCain will work with governors to develop a best practices model that states can follow- a Guaranteed Access Plan or GAP- that would reflect the best experience of the states to ensure these patients have access to health coverage.  One approach would be to establish a non profit corporation that would contract with insurers to cover patients who have been denied insurance and could join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs.  There would be reasonable limits on premiums, and assistance would be available for Americans below a certain income level. 

My comment: All I can say to this is uh-oh!  Guaranteed Access Plan, sounds very similar to Guaranteed Issue State!  Please reread the state plans above.  In this plan I don’t see change from where we are now, and isn’t the heart of this issue about those who don’t have adequate coverage or coverage at all because they can't afford it? Additionally, who is going to oversee the non profit?  Government? Non profits are not exempt from issues.  I have many concerns about this, as I don't see enough details.