Health Savings Accounts
Formerly known as Medical Savings Accounts, President Bush changed the name to Health Savings Accounts, or HSA. In 2003, congress approved a bill for Health Savings accounts and was signed into law in January 2004. This creation of HSAs is part of the largest expansion of the government intervening in medicine in 40 years (Americans for Free Choice in Medicine, 2013). Unlike the aforementioned health spending and reimbursement accounts, HSAs can be used for medical expenses for the employee as well as their spouse and dependents. Both the employer and/or employee can open a health saving account and the employer, employee or any third party can make contributions. As of 2013, the annual contribution limits for individuals is $3,250 for individuals and $6,450 for families (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2013). HSA contributions are tax exempt and are used to pay for medical expenses to include, visits with the physician, hospital expenses, laboratory, radiologic and diagnostic services, prescription drugs, dental care, vision and hearing aides (Americans for Free Choice in Medicine, 2013). In contrast to FSAs and HRAs, unused funds from HRAs do roll over to the next year, funds are transferable if the employee changes jobs, and switches health care plans or retires. HRA funds can also be used for retirement income and members over age 65 are not penalized for withdrawing funds unless the funds are not used for qualifying expenses, which will result in withdrawals being taxed as income. All qualifying withdrawals are tax exempt and health savings account can accrue interest as well as invest in investment funds of which any financial gain is also tax exempt. With HSAs, health insurance premiums are r...
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... to withdraw funds from their health savings accounts for disqualifying medical expenses.
Recommendations for those considering a Consumer-Driven Health Care Plan
For those considering a consumer-driven health care plan, I would recommend that they be active in the management of their own health care in order to remain healthy so that they can prevent chronic conditions that require significant medical services. I would also recommend that for those considering a CDHP, they have the income potential earnings to save money each month either through a health spending and reimbursement plan such as the HSA, FSA or HRA or a regular savings account to have available to cover the cost of the deductibles, co-pays and co-insurances. If the deductible must be paid in full up front, I would recommend that the consumer set up a payment plan with a financial counselor.
This could be controversial, if older, sicker people who need the coverage most enter the market, but younger groups decline to do so. The insurance pool will be unbalanced and the cost of coverage will rise correspondingly. The process of choosing a health insurance provider should be more consumer friendly. People covered by their employer can clear their doubt about health insurance by conversing with the Human Resource department, whereas people who buy through marketplaces or health insurance exchanges, as in the case of ACA, may not have any resource to give further explanation.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA is a statute endorsed by the U.S. Congress in 1996. It offers protections for many American workers which improves portability and continuity of health insurance coverage. The seven titles of the final law are Title I - Health care Access , Portability, Title II - Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse; administrative simplification; Medical Liability Reform; Title III – Tax-related Health Provisions; Title IV – Application and Enforcement of Group Health Plan Requirements; Title V – Revenue Offsets; Title XI – General Provisions, Peer Review, Administrative Simplification; Title XXVII – Assuring Portability, Availability and Renewability of Health Insurance Coverage. (Krager & Krager, 2008)
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, most commonly known by its initials HIPAA, was enacted by Congress then signed by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996. This act was put into place in order to regulate the privacy of patient health information, and as an effort to lower the cost of health care, shape the many pieces of our complicated healthcare system. This act also protects individuals from losing their health insurance if they lose their employment or choose to switch employers. . Before HIPAA there was no standard or consistency for the enforcement of the privacy for patients and the rules and regulations varied by state and organizations. HIPAA virtually affects everybody within the healthcare field including but not limited to patients, providers, payers and intermediaries. Although there are many parts of the HIPAA act, for the purposes of this paper we are going to focus on the two main sections and the four objectives of HIPAA, a which are to improve the portability (the capability of transferring from one employee to another) of health insurance, combat fraud, abuse, and waste in health insurance, to promote the expanded use of medical savings accounts, and to simplify the administration of health insurance.
The amount of money that is spent on healthcare is a quite a bit of money but about 10% of all the money is a result of some sort of medical fraud or abuse. This is about 120 billion dollars. With HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) medical fraud and abuse can be tracked easier. HIPAA was enacted in august of 1996; this was to help improve the portability and continuity of the health insurance.
The United States (U.S.) has a health care system that is much different than any other health care system in the world (Nies & McEwen, 2015). It is frequently recognized as one with most recent technological inventions, but at the same time is often criticized for being overly expensive (Nies & McEwen, 2015). In 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (U. S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.) This plan was implemented in an attempt to make preventative care more affordable and accessible for all uninsured Americans (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.). Under the law, the new Patient’s Bill of Rights gives consumers the power to be in charge of their health care choices. (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.).
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act passed and were signed into law on August 21, 1996. It affects the medical facility and its day to day operations; in many different ways. HIPAA sets higher standard of operation for healthcare workers and the facilities. "HIPAA was instituted to "improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage; to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and healthcare delivery; to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long term care services and coverage; to simplify the administration of health insurance; and to serve other purposes" (Kinn’s, 2011).
HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information ad help the healthcare industry control administrative costs. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. HIPAA was first introduced in 1996. It was made a law by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton. The HIPAA Privacy Rule protects an individual’s medical records and other personal health information.
Health Insurance is one of the nations top problems, the cost is rising for premiums, and many businesses just cannot afford it. As Americans many of us have the luxury of health insurance, but far too many of us have to go without it. This is something that always seems to brought up at congressional debates, but little is done about it. “In 2013 there were 41 million people reported with out health insurance coverage, this is too many considering those people probably were sick at some point through out the year, and they couldn’t afford treatment.” We need to find someway to make sure that every citizen of the United States is able to have affordable healthcare for themselves, and their families.
In March 2010, under the Obama administration, the United States enacted major health-care reform. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 expands coverage to the majority of uninsured Americans, through: (a) subsidies aimed at lower-income individuals and families to purchase coverage, (b) a mandate that most Americans obtain insurance or face a penalty,
Ans 1) To mandate the insurance or not is a big question to be answered and still there are a lot of problems associated with mandating the Health Insurance in United States. A lot of views have been given by people regarding whether there is need of mandating the Health Insurance or not.
Taxes in relation to the new healthcare reform is a prominent topic when one examines the supporting and opposing sides of the law. New taxes on businesses producing medical equipment and new Medicare taxes on investments have been established. For individuals and businesses choosing not to participate in purchasing health insurance there will be a penalty called a "shared responsibility" tax. The accrued money from these taxes is being used, among other things, to provide low-cost insurance plans on the marketplace and to create subsidies for those purchasing the plans. Through these subsidies, "any individual making up to $45,960 or a family of four with household income up to $94,200 is eligible" ("Obamacare tax guide") to qualify and get assistance at the end of each year to off-set the cost of the insurance even more...
Medical benefits have been a popular conversation that has received positive and negative feedback. Why is having medical benefits important? Important to you and your family. Medical benefits can assist with families when in need and also financially hurt families that do not have assistance. Most citizens have the question of should having medical benefits be mandated by Congress. Having insurance benefits is a necessity because it means that if an accident was to occur and it required a hospital visit, who would be responsible for the hospital bill.
“A lot of what we "know" about other nations ' approach to health care is simply myth.” (Reid, 2013) Mr. T Reid said this quote best. We simply do not know enough about healthcare to form a judicious opinion on it. Healthcare is the number one field that is always changing and the changes are so vast that most cannot keep up with them. Many American’s, myself included have a hard time understanding the altering healthcare field and are always struggling to keep up with the modifications.
To begin with, In today's working society it is extremely important to have medical coverage, and while nowadays most consumers receive their coverage through their employers, there is still a percentage of our population that
I want to buy a house for my family in the earlier stages of my career, partly pay college tuition for my younger siblings and pay for my master’s degree; budgeting will play an important role to help me manage and save funds to achieve my personal goals. There’s only so much one can plan for and unfortunate events can happen to anyone, so having an insurance coverage is imperative to cover for future losses. I would certainly consider buying homeowner’s insurance, automobile insurance and term-based life insurance and as far as health care is concerned it will covered under fringe benefits from my future