Greg Scandlen, director of the Galen Institute’s Center for Consumer Driven Health Care issued the following statement today:
“The Treasury Department today issued additional guidance that should help make Health Savings Accounts successful in the marketplace by clearing up some of the ambiguities in the legislation. As Secretary Snow stated in releasing the new regulations, HSAs represent ‘an historic change in the way we look at health coverage.’ The new guidance will help make that change successful.
“The Secretary announced three big developments – 1) A definition of what will be considered preventive care and thus eligible for first-dollar coverage. 2) An explanation that prescription drugs are subject to the same deductible requirements as other medical services, but allowing people with drug co-pay programs to participate in HSAs on a transitional basis until 2006, and 3) Allowing people who have not yet been able to find an HSA account manager to fully fund their HSAs in 2004, provided they are covered by a qualifying high deductible health plan.
“These three announcements show that the Bush administration is serious about reforming our health care system in a way that empowers individual patients to take more control over their own health care resources and decisions. Secretary Snow and the hard working staff in the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service should be congratulated for their responsiveness to the demands of the marketplace.”
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For more information, please contact:
Greg Scandlen
(301) 606-7364
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Click here for Secretary Snow’s remarks.
Click here for the ruling on prescription drugs and co-pays.
Click here for the ruling on transition relief for prescription drugs.
Click here for the ruling on transition relief for delayed account openings.
Click here for the ruling on preventive services.
Click here for the Dept. of Labor’s news release, “Employee Benefits Security Administration Issues Field Assistance Bulletin on Health Savings Accounts.”
Click here for the Field Assistance Bulletin on HSAs.