Leading health economist Jonathan Gruber of M.I.T. finds that the Bush administration’s proposals to expand tax breaks for health savings accounts would cause a net increase in the number of uninsured Americans. The study, sponsored by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, projects that while 3.8 million previously uninsured people would gain health coverage through HSAs as a result of the president’s proposals, 4.4 million people would become uninsured because their employers would respond to the new tax breaks by dropping coverage and they would not secure coverage on their own. The net effect would be to increase the number of uninsured Americans by 600,000. “The Administration estimates that its HSA-related tax proposals would cost $156 billion over the next ten years, which would worsen the nation’s fiscal problems,” says Robert Greenstein, the Center’s executive director.
Learn more about HSAs and their effect at the HFMA Spring Summit on consumer-directed health care and pay-for-performance, February 26-28.
