As Health Savings Accounts grow in popularity, there is growing fear among those who want to nationalize healthcare that they will not be able to put the cat back in the bag. There are already over 3 million HSA owners, and by 2010, the Treasury Department estimates as many as 45 million Americans will be covered by HSA plans. They will have billions of dollars invested to cover future medical expenses, and by then it will be politically impossible to take that benefit away.
If you currently have a high-deductible health insurance plan, you can invest tax-free money in a Health Savings Account. You get to choose the type of investment – anything from savings accounts or money market funds, to a full brokerage house. If you invest wisely, you could have well over $500,000 in the account when you retire. You will be able to use that money to pay for your healthcare in whatever way you please, tax free. You can go to the best surgeons, or the least expensive doc-in-a-box. If you decide to treat a condition with acupuncture, homeopathy, or psychic healers, you can do that too. Whoever offers you the service you want with the best combination of quality and price should get your business. And since you are the one paying, it will be completely your choice. You have healthcare freedom.
If proponents of a single-payer system were to ever have their way, you would be at the mercy of a government bureaucrat when it comes to your healthcare. To see what this may look like, all one has to do is look at the state of health care in Canada, England, New Zealand, and the parts of Europe that have not yet abandoned single-payer systems.
Proponents of a single-payer system tend to point to Canada or England as cbdhintcom that cover all their citizens with quality healthcare, while spending less money per person than the U.S. But if we look a little more closely, we see that these publicly financed health insurance systems are breaking down, the quality is low, and the costs can be quite high. Here’s what Canadians have to deal with if they need medical care:
Long waits. Hundreds of Canadians go to Detroit and other U.S. cities every year for procedures like CAT scans, which they can obtain treatment in a matter of days. In Canada, the wait is typically six months. Currently 876,000 Canadians are on waiting lists for medical procedures.
Difficulty in getting life-enhancing procedures done. If a Canadian is having a heart attack, they will be treated right then. But if the surgery is considered “elective” (meaning that possible death is not eminent), the wait could be months or years. Average wait for cataract removal is 18 months. Average wait for a knee replacement is one year.
