Why Bush's Health Care Plan Fails

Bush's health care savings plan does almost nothing to actually help the million of Americans that are without insurance. In my prior life, I worked for Life/Health insurance companies, and I would not touch his plan with a ten foot pole if given a choice between what I have now and the Bush plan.

First of all, the Bush health savings plan is just another way to help big banks and investment firms on Wall Street. Just like Bush's "social security privatization plan" Wall Street would make billions off the fees to manage the funds you contribute to your account. They are drooling over the possibilities.

Secondly, how can a person earning $35,000 a year afford to put enough money away for this plan? I make much more than that and it would still hurt to save up for the plan along with retirement, down payment for a house, etc. Bush is out of touch with real America if he thinks there is so much surplus in our paychecks.

Third, Under the Bush plan, high deductible insurance plans would become the norm. That means a person would have to pay up to $5000 before they received a penny in insurance coverage. Even though the savings plan is tax free, that only means the average family is getting about a 20% savings. If a deductible is $5000, you are still paying the equivalent of $4000 out of pocket before insurance kicks in. Additionally, It could take years for a family to save up enough money to even cover the deductible, and that would not take into account having to withdraw funds for yearly Doctor visits, prescriptions, etc. Anything happens in the early years and you could be screwed. A person with a chronic illness would be the biggest looser and could virtually never keep up with the out of pocket costs of this plan.

Fourth, once your accounts funds are exhausted, that's it, you have to start all over again. One major illness could wipe out years of savings and leave you with nothing for additional medical costs. Deductibles are yearly, meaning, a family could have to shell out $10,000 over two years or $15,000 over 3 for major medical problems that roll from one year to the next.

In essence, this will do nothing for the 45 million uninsured Americans and possibly make those with insurance even worse off.