|
America is facing a real health care crisis, and USAction advocates for real solutions. Health Savings Accounts will do nothing to help America's low-income uninsured families find the coverage they need. Read about some of our activities here.
Health Savings Accounts were established by the 2003 Medicare prescription drug law. They are available only to those with high-deductible health insurance plans, and only practical for those who can already afford to set money aside.
A Health Savings Account is a tax break on money used for health care costs. But because more than a third of uninsured Americans do not earn enough to pay federal taxes, the help would be useless for the people who need it the most. Millions more Americans would save, at most, ten percent of the cost of their premiums.
At best, the Health Savings Account plan amounts to a tax cut for those who can already afford costly insurance plans. For everyone else, it's another false promise designed to distract attention away from the continued absence of an honest, comprehensive health plan for all.
Florida Residents Rally Against HSA's
From the Fall 2004 USAction Update
Summer 2004—Over the summer, Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his staff traveled across the state promoting health savings accounts (HSAs), which were made available by the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003, as a solution to Florida’s health care crisis.
Florida Consumer Action Network activists met the Governor and his staff at each stop to protest HSAs, which do little to help working families, but do help to increase profits of insurance companies and giant HMOs, and provide yet another tax break for the wealthy.
Eighty percent of uninsured people live in working families, and 65 percent of them live on incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Many of these families cannot afford to set aside money for these savings accounts, and are still left with no health coverage.
| 
