President Bush Links Health Care Savings Account Proposal With Funding Lasik Surgery
In a discussion at the Playhouse on the Green in Bridgeport, Connecticut President Bush discussed the need to implement Health Savings Account, and that one example of the advantages of this problem was to be able to finance Lasik eye surgery, and other optional surgery. This discussion occurred in a panel on health care on April 5th in Connecticut, with the participation of Congressman Shays and other local officials and doctors. Also present was the Governor of Connecticut, Jodi Rell.
President Bush called Health Savings Accounts a system where people are in charge of their own health care. This is part of the debate in properly financing Medicare, which has 27 million people signed up, and the Medicaid program for the poor. For more information of these programs call 1-800-MEDICARE. President Bush was interested in the expansion of community health care centers, and applauded the work of such a center in Bridgeport, Conn., which has been providing primary health care for the poor, to take the stress off of hospital emergency rooms.
Pres. Bush also talked about the new Medicare bill passed by the U.S. Congress, giving people the option of setting up health care saving accounts. He encapsulated the argument that A health savings account addresses one of the major cost-drivers in our system, and that is, is that when a lot of people get health care but somebody else pays the bill. It's called a third-party payer system. The purpose of these accounts is to make consumers more responsible for their health care costs, but also to give them more options in spending health care money. These health savings account would be coupled with a high-deductible, catastrophic insurance plan. That's long-word talk for if you get seek above a certain amount, your insurance pays for it. If not, you pay for it. But the savings, if you don't spend money, are tax-free. President Bush is interested in marketplace solutions to health care problems. He gave the example of the development of Lasik. He said that, people shopping for lasik and the improvement of lasik surgery have made it more successful and the quality has improved. So, if young people start to save for health care at an early age, they would have the option of using this health care savings account money for optional surgery such as Lasik.
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