Health Insurance: MSAs Issue Not Settled

House and Senate conferees meeting over “patients’ rights”-centered health insurance reform plans still have not settled the issue of whether any final bill would include adding medical savings account plans to the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. The Senate has endorsed such plans but the House hasn’t, even though there is wide support there among Republicans for the concept. MSAs are low-premium, high-deductible plans coupled with tax-favored savings accounts to help enrollees pay their out of pocket costs. Proponents say that such plans would make the FEHB more affordable to the many eligible enrollees who don’t elect coverage, but critics such as the National Association of Federal Employees and many employee organizations say such plans would skim off relatively healthy enrollees, leaving others with higher premiums and/or lower coverage.