Health care needs attention

With mid-term elections fast approaching and health care becoming an increasingly important issue to most American voters, the Bush Administration should make health care reform a priority in the year ahead. The war on terrorism abroad and the current recession at home won't make doing so any easier. But the president's call to renew efforts to make health care more accessible during last Tuesday's State of the Union Address is a step in the right direction. \nWhile a number of different approaches have been suggested in recent months, Individual Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) offer the only effective way to reduce the cost of health care without limiting available services. Since their inception at the federal level in 1996 under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), they have proven that less really is more. Under an MSA health plan, individuals can set up their own individual health care savings account. The account operates much like a traditional bank account, but every dollar that is deposited is tax deductible and withdrawals can only be made to pay for medical expenses. \nSince federal guidelines currently require all MSA health plans to be used in conjunction with high-deductible insurance policies, account holders are responsible for paying for a larger portion of routine medical expenses. But insurance still protects against more expensive medical treatment resulting from catastrophic illness, prolonged hospitalization and other serious injuries. Health care consumers with MSAs get the best of both worlds. On the one hand, they pay lower monthly insurance premiums in return for shouldering greater responsibility to budget for routine medical expenses. On the other, they are protected against the kinds of catastrophic events that make health care worthwhile to begin with.\nThe use of high-deductible insurance policies with MSAs also reduces the cost of medical care itself. Limiting the role of third-party involvement to only the most serious medical treatment significantly lowers administrative costs for physicians. Simple Care, a Renton Washington-based health care agency, is one of many nationwide organizations that currently offers high quality medical treatment at prices that are 30-50 percent lower for individuals who are willing to pay in full at the time of service. MSAs eliminate much of the need for HMOs and other insurance industry middlemen. As a result, health care consumers can receive retail-quality medical treatment at wholesale prices. \nUnlike traditional employer-based health insurance plans, MSAs are also portable. For individuals with MSAs, losing a job doesn't mean facing the risk of temporarily going without health insurance. Every dollar invested in an MSA that remains unused at the close of each year conveniently rolls over to cover unexpected future health expenses, even during periods of unemployment. \nWith lower monthly costs and greater financial flexibility, MSAs have already brought health-care security to thousands of uninsured Americans. According to American Health Value, a private MSA administrator that currently manages more than 30,000 MSA accounts, almost 50 percent of its clients were previously uninsured. \nThe General Accounting Office (GAO) reported last July that by 2016, Medicare hospital outlays will exceed payroll tax revenues. America's experiment with socialized medicine has proven to be much too expensive and far too ineffective to sustain itself. It's time for the president and congressional leaders to expand the current MSA pilot program and return the power to make health care decisions back to the hands of private citizens where it belongs.