ObamaCare was written on a parchment of lies.
The president claimed he would never raise taxes on the middle class to pay for his health care program. We were told the creation of this monstrous entitlement would save us money. Congressional supporters claimed it would drive down health care premiums. Each and every one of these assertions have been proven false and now even the president's promise that if we liked out plans, we would be able to keep them, is under assault by his Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HHS is promulgating new regulations that threaten the ability of five million Americans who have an individual or small business Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to keep their plan.
Health Savings Accounts are the true alternative of government-run health care. Rather than bureaucrats both in government and in insurance companies dictating what services you can use, HSAs empower consumers to make their own choices. Since 2005, the growth of HSAs has exploded but now HHS is threaten a large portion of the marketplace.
HHS has created a new "Medical Loss Ratio" (MLR) rule that discriminates against HSAs and will prevent consumer-driven plans to meet the threshold for acceptance in the newly formed health care exchanges.
Under HHS' scheme, any payment for a health care service below the deductible by an individual or family does not count in the weird and bizarre world of the government bureaucrats’ MLR. Payments for health care services by insurers do count, but not payments by individuals. If an insurer pays for a health care service for their insured, the MLR rule counts that in their MLR rule. But if an individual pays for a health care service to meet their deductible, the MLR rule does not count that expenditure. HSAs allow consumers to pay their deductible with their own funds set aside for that exact purpose.
It's hard not to believe that HHS does not know the impact of their rule. As ObamaCare creates incentives for people to get into a government-run system, this may be the first battle in a long war to keep your plan.
