From the Wall Street Journal today–“Bush to Seek Bigger Health-Savings Tax Break“:
President Bush is expected to propose sweetening the tax breaks associated with health savings accounts, part of an effort to persuade more people to save for their own medical expenses, administration officials said.The proposal under discussion would let people deposit more money into their tax-free HSAs each year and use that tax-free money to pay health-insurance premiums. The proposal is part of a broader array of changes in the health-care system that the president is expected to propose in his State of the Union address Jan. 31.
Also, from this week’s radio address:
For the sake of America’s small businesses, workers, and families, we must also make health care more affordable and accessible. A new product known as Health Savings Accounts helps control costs by allowing businesses or workers to buy low-cost insurance policies for catastrophic events and then save, tax-free, for routine medical expenses. This year, I will ask Congress to take steps to make these accounts more available, more affordable, and more portable. Congress also needs to pass Association Health Plans, which allow small businesses across the country to join together and pool risk so they can buy insurance at the same discounts big companies get.