Reducing Washington's Health Care Costs

The State of Washington has high health care costs. Particularly because the State has many requirements on what health insurance plans must offer; each additional requirement narrows what health care providers can do and together they raise the costs. In 2003 President Bush signed legislation that creates a new alternative to health insurance - medical savings accounts. An MSA combines a tax-free account to pay for routine medical expenses with an insurance policy for catastrophic health expenses; the insurance is cheap because it has a high deductible, since the account pays for routine expenses. Liv S. Finne of Washington Policy Center authored The How-To Guide to Health Savings Accounts. The full policy brief is 20 pages. There is a 2-page policy note Read the 2-page version to get an overview of what we can do today and some changes that will save Washington State a bundle of money. If you find it valuable then get on their mailing list and send them a donation. WPC does excellent work.