Lansing State Journal (MI), February 12, 2006

What LSJ dismisses as 'tinkering' is real and effective reform

By Michael Harp
works for East Lansing-based Michigan Group Benefits, an insurance firm.

In a Feb. 1 editorial ("No cure"), the LSJ Editorial Board said, "Bush's proposal (on health savings accounts) is tinkering. It might help a few individuals or families. But it does not even touch the national health care crisis."

The 2004 U.S. Census Bureau reports 15.7 percent, or 45.8 million Americans, have no health insurance. Thirty-five percent of those have household incomes over $50,000 and 18 percent over $75,000. A family of four living in the Lansing area can purchase an HSA-qualified health insurance plan for less than $300 per month.

Fully one-third of all the uninsured people in America can certainly afford health insurance, but simply choose to go without. Health savings accounts are a viable, affordable health insurance option for these people.

I would hardly call this "tinkering."

Covering the uninsured is only one of the benefits of changing our health insurance system into a more consumer-driven model. I simply disagree with the LSJ's claim that "People don't do cost-benefit analysis when their loved ones are sick." When the choice to take a generic vs. brand-name drug hits you in the wallet, people act like consumers and economize. Or, they might even decide to make lifestyle changes because they don't want to pay for expensive drugs and medical procedures.

Recently, a doctor recommended a new, brand-name antibiotic for my daughter. He claimed it was a better choice than the generic drug we usually give her because "you only have to take it once per day" as opposed to multiple doses.

I asked him how much it would cost and he didn't know. We went with the generic drug (which cost $4.50). Later, I learned the brand-name antibiotic would have cost $88.

The LSJ editorial stated that "HSAs won't motivate a 22-year-old worker to buy a Blue Cross individual policy." I'm sure many people wouldn't be motivated to purchase automobile insurance without the law requiring it.

By the way, that twenty-something can get HSA coverage for around $75 per month. How many uninsured 20-year-olds spend more than $75 per month on cable television, cell phones, eating out, cigarettes or alcohol?

Many people aren't even "motivated" enough to sign up for government sponsored health insurance. John R. Graham of the Pacific Research Institute reports that roughly one in four non-elderly Californians classified as uninsured are eligible for taxpayer-funded health insurance, but simply fail to sign up. This is especially the case among children. Nearly two-thirds of California's children who reportedly suffer from a lack of health insurance in fact suffer only from parents who haven't signed them up for taxpayer-sponsored health insurance.

HSAs are not the answer for everyone, but they are a huge step in the right direction. They provide an affordable health insurance option for millions of Americans and encourage consumers to act like consumers when making decisions about their health care.