House Democrats said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study they released shows that health savings accounts attract healthier and wealthier employees, proving the plans won't work for sicker people and those with lower incomes. But the GAO data stop somewhat short of reaching those conclusions. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., said the report "verifies" that the accounts and the high-deductible health plans accompanying them "are designed for healthy, wealthy people." Read more »
House Republicans cleared a $39 billion budget savings package, sending President Bush the first cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and student loans since 1997. The vote was 216–214. Not a single Democrat voted for the package of cuts (S 1932), which will save $39 billion over five years and $99 billion over a decade. Republicans had to struggle to round up the last few votes. Among the last to vote "yes" were Frank A. LoBiondo, R-N.J., and Nancy L. Johnson, R-Conn. Final action on the savings package sets the stage for a House–Senate conference on a $70 billion package of tax cuts (HR 4297) that will be shielded from filibusters in the Senate under the budget reconciliation process. Read more »
For the first time since the Medicare prescription drug benefit started Jan. 1, administration officials appeared at a hearing on Capitol Hill to defend their handling of the drug benefit rollout. And they got an earful from senators who are angry about the problems some beneficiaries have had. At a hearing before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mark B. McClellan vigorously argued that legislation would not be necessary to smooth the transition for many of the "dual eligible" seniors who are being transferred from Medicaid to Medicare drug coverage. Read more »
Although tax breaks dominated health care coverage of President Bush's State of the Union address, the speech wove in other health-related issues that allow GOP candidates in the midterm congressional elections to talk the talk on health care this fall regardless of whether they can walk the walk. Bush, for example, called for the creation of a new bipartisan congressional commission on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Military and other spending priorities and Bush's goal of cutting the federal deficit in half by 2009 put pressure on the president to cut Medicare and Medicaid entitlement spending again this year. Read more »
The ambitious proposal advanced by President Bush to expand health savings accounts represents the administration's strongest push yet to convince employers and workers to embrace "HSAs" as a way to get more for their health care dollar. Unveiled in the State of the Union address, the proposal would improve the tax treatment of HSAs and make them portable, allowing workers to keep them when they change jobs or leave the work force. More details on the proposal will be released when the administration releases its budget Feb. 6. Read more »
The White House plan to spur sales of health savings accounts is more "radical" than advertised, posing a major threat to comprehensive health care for most Americans and to the federal budget, liberal analysts said. The health savings account proposal is "almost designed to undermine traditional [employer-sponsored] insurance," said Len Burman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. White House officials deny they are aiming to unravel traditional employer-based coverage, saying they aim to give employers more "flexibility." Read more »