I have been asked to make myself available to comment on Bush's health care proposals that he will discuss in the State of the Union Tuesday. This might include my reactions directly after the speech Tuesday or even during the speech. Presumably he will push health savings accounts and the plan to pool small businesses as buyers of health care that has been kicked around for some years now. See the link in today's NYT analyzing these:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
There are issues especially with the savings accounts where allowing individuals to take advantage of the pre-tax feature, that on its face sounds good, would end up increasing costs. One of the criticisms of employer-sponsored plans is that by allowing them to be deducted from taxes, this encourages excessive use that drives up costs. Would the savings accounts that essentially subsidize costs for individuals just accelerate this problem?
I'm writing to get any comments, reactions, or suggestions from folks regarding health savings accounts and the small business pooling. Particularly I'm interested in those of you that have expertise in health care economics and access. I'm speaking to the media so I am trying to give as objective critique of these plans as I can.
Since I'm not a celebrity on this blog (in fact, this is only my second diary ever--the first was decidedly ignored, and deservedly so) I'm not sure how much attention this will get. But I know there are quite a few people here that seem to be very talented at analyzing and interpreting economic and other data. So any reactions to Bush's health proposals are greatly appreciated!