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SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
Health Insurance
Flexible
Spending Accounts and Health Care Costs
Many politicians and activists have offered
so many possible solutions to help reduce the rising number
of Americans without health insurance. There are roughly about
43 million people, or one out of every seven. Unfortunately,
their proposals are just more of the same, either only offering
a patchwork approach that would make only minor adjustments
to the current policy, or relying on the existing, fractured
health care system to promise to change. Whatever way you want
to look at it, they leave the truth untouched that we don’t
have control and choice in our health care system. The insured
are at the mercy of huge corporations that have a need to make
money, and lots of it.
These days, many
Americans cannot even be treated for major illnesses or
get check-ups because the cost is so high. There
are generally three forms of health care are available at the
cost of the individual, employer-sponsored insurance, individual
health insurance, and public health insurance. In all of them
the individuals have little to no choice in deciding and controlling
the care and services they receive, want, and/or need. Today's
employers offer less choice of health-care plans to their employees,
while requiring employees to manage a larger share of the costs.
They cannot afford to offer lesser expensive plans at a better
rate because of the rise in health care costs and premiums.
In the small-business community, employers with less than 20
employees are reconsidering whether they should even offer
health care to their workers at all. By law they are not required
to, and it will save them money, but also make them less desirable
to work for. It seems to be a catch 22.
Then there are the public assistance programs that are government
controlled, such as Medicaid and Medicare, that are facing
many problems as well. Most states continue to struggle with
insane Medicaid costs and the rising number of people on the
program. Besides putting stress on other state functions, such
as education and transportation, it erodes access and quality
of care for the dependent populations. The House of Representatives
recently took the aforementioned piecemeal route. The most
promising of the initiatives it approved would change Flexible
Spending Accounts (FSAs). It would allow individuals to carry
over up to $500 in their FSAs each year. These accounts, offered
through an employer, let employees put pre-tax dollars into
accounts that can be tapped for medical expenses not covered
by insurance. This would enable many Americans to pay for some
of their health care bills and out of pocket expenses.
The huge
loophole in this plan as of now is any funds left
over at the end of the year are forfeited to the employer.
This requirement wrongly implies that these funds are not the
employee's. This gives individuals no incentive to save for
future health-care expenses. The only actual policyholder’s
who benefit are individual plan carriers. The employers should
be forced to give the employee at least the majority of the
benefit. Ideally, employees should be able to carry over all
unused funds and/or be allowed to withdraw and pay taxes on
them. What is really needed is a more aggressive and comprehensive
approach to reform. One that offers a fresh perspective that
would revolutionize the health-care system. A system based
on personal choice and freedom. One that allows all people
to be covered no matter what income level they are at.
There are two changes that are needed to take place to jump-start
a health care revolution:
1.
Fix the tax treatment of health care. Right now the tax
code provides unlimited tax relief for the purchase of health
insurance only through the workplace. So, lower-wage workers,
those in small firms, get less tax relief than high-wage workers.
If a person chooses to buy an individual health plan, he or
she must do so with after-tax dollars, which often makes the
cost of a plan impossible to meet.
2.
Design a consumer-friendly marketplace. In order for individuals
to become more involved consumers of health care, there needs
to be a marketplace where individuals are able to select from
a wide variety of plans that best meet their individual needs.
By allowing individuals to pick and choose the plans of their
choice, the plans will become responsible to the individual
for quality, value and satisfaction. Unfortunately, some states
have over-regulated their markets, making coverage less accessible
and less affordable. So the first step for policy-makers should
be to encourage states to fix their markets to better serve
consumers. Click here to to view health insurance quotes, compare plans side-by-side and apply for the most affordable health insurance within your budget. I did this myself (June 17, 2011) to change my health insurance policy. Saved me $84 per month (or $1,008 per year). It's my SolveYourProblem recommendation.
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by SolveYourProblem.com
: 2006
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