Who Would Gain from Expanded Use of Health Savings Accounts?

eAlert 1741a7cf-34c0-4a81-b51c-9a09277e4bbf

<p>Health savings accounts (HSAs) allow people to save money tax-free for paying certain future medical expenses. A staple of Republican health care proposals for years, HSAs were a key component of the bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives, and subsequently pulled, to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. </p><p>But in a new <em>To the Point</em> post, Georgetown University’s JoAnn Volk and Justin Giovannelli explain it’s unlikely that expanded reliance on HSAs will increase access to health care or that most Americans will be able to realize their tax benefits. In practice, the financial advantages of HSAs have mainly accrued to the top 5 percent of earners—the group that can most afford to contribute to these accounts during the year and will reap the largest gains at tax time.</p>

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2017/apr/who-would-gain-from-expanded-use-of-health-savings-accounts Read the post