EXPLAINING THE HEALTH COVERAGE ISSUEFirst, for those who are confused, the ACA is the same thing as "Obamacare."
Now, when Trump or Paul Ryan say they want to replace the ACA with "Health Savings Accounts" (HSAs), they are also saying they want to replace Obamacare or Medicare or Medicaid with YOU paying for your healthcare. That means YOU pay for chemotherapy... YOU pay for all surgeries and hospitalization... YOU pay for all your family's doctor visits, urgent care, ER visits, and prescription drugs out-of-our-pocket. A Health Savings Account is just a tax-free way for you to save up money to pay for your own medical bills. So if you are paying off college loans, or saving for a house down-payment, or simply living paycheck to paycheck, guess what -- a Health Savings Account does you no good, because you have no discretionary funds to deposit into it. And even if you manage to save five grand or ten grand in an HSA, that could all get wiped out in one hospital visit for you or a family member. Then you are back to square zero again. Even if you can supplement your HSA with affordable health insurance, you will be eating away at money that you should be investing for your retirement or your kids' college tuition. Only the top 3-5% of Americans can save enough for retirement, college AND their own out-of-pocket medical expenses. Therefore, the tax benefits of HSA's only help those people. Please call your Congress member to protest this. This is one of Trump’s first orders of business. Yes the work has begun for all of us too! David Ruekberg |
