This Just In: Health Insurance Reform is "Income Redistribution"

From the Wall St. Journal. As long as HSAs, FSAs, and the penalty (down from $3900 to $1900) keep coming in lower than the $5000 or so estimated "new" annual health insurance premiums, people are going to jump ship whether or not their employer pushes them.

HSAs and FSAs are tax-deductible today. Couple this with the fact that paying cash for preventative services nets you a cash discount, and most HSA/FSA plans allow you to include OTC supplements as "preventative medicine", making THEM tax-deductible as well. You can clearly see the magnitude of savings to be had from opting out--provided Congress doesn't touch the HSAs or FSAs, or their tax-deductibility.

We'll see in the coming days what Congress plans to do--I'm betting they leave the HSAs and FSAs untouched. They always leave a back door or loophole for themselves, because they don't want to be subject to the same things we peons are.

Related article: People Playing the Odds on Health Care Over Cost (Yahoo News).