More critics are weighing in with the opinion that the President's push for expanded use of Health Savings Accounts is blind to the reality of the current health care environment.
In USA Today, Drew Altman of the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation research group says, "We're a solid decade away from being anywhere close to consumers having the price and quality information they need to really shop for health care."
An Albany Times Union editorial asks, "How many of the more than 45 million people without insurance are helped by such a plan?"
The Wichita Eagle writes in an editorial that while HSAs are a valuable tool, they are "likely too modest to make much difference to the 45 million who are uninsured and the others dealing with rising costs and declining access."
Diane Stafford, in an opinion piece in the Kansas City Star wrote: "If you ... wanted a solution to our nation's rising health care cost woes, you didn't get it from the State of the Union address."
Zanny Minton-Beddoes, on the "Marketplace Morning Report," said that the health care proposals that Bush announced in his State of the Union address allow ideology to "triumph over good sense."
Herb Field, wrote in an opinion piece in the Harrisburg Patriot-News: "Better that you bear more of your own medical costs so that you see the doctor less, allow your sniffle to turn into pneumonia, and stay home and die" based on the health care proposals that Bush announced in his State of the Union address.
Robert Goldberg, in the Washington Times wrote that although "making Medicare choices on your own is scary, just try using" HSAs.
Posted by schwitz at February 2, 2006 10:28 AM | TrackBack