Bush spars with Democrats over health agenda

By Caren Bohan

DUBLIN, Ohio (Reuters) – President George W. Bush promoted
tax-free savings accounts on Wednesday as a way to make medical
care more affordable, but Democrats accused him of offering
recycled ideas that would worsen the health system.

With congressional elections looming in November and polls
showing rising health costs are a key concern for Americans,
Bush visited the Ohio headquarters of fast-food chain Wendy’s
to tout a health agenda he said would make the system more
consumer-driven.

Bush, in his annual State of the Union speech, urged the
expansion of health savings accounts, or HSAs, which allow
people to set aside money tax-free for routine medical costs.

The accounts are designed to be paired with insurance plans
that cover catastrophic illnesses. The catastrophic plans have
lower premiums than traditional plans offered by many large
U.S. employers that often cover a large portion of routine
costs while also covering major illnesses.

Bush said traditional health plans gave consumers little
incentive to compare prices when picking providers.

“Most Americans have no idea what their actual cost of
treatment is,” Bush said. “There’s no reason at all to worry
about price. Somebody else is paying the bill. … There’s no
pressure for an industry to lower prices.”

Bush pointed to Wendy’s as an example of a company that
offered HSA plans to employees.

But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said,
“The president’s most recent recycled health care idea will
make the health care crisis worse.”

Reid pointed to a study that suggested the number of
uninsured, now numbering 46 million, would increase under the
plan because employers would respond to the new tax breaks by
dropping traditional coverage. Democrats have also said HSAs
would mainly benefit the wealthy.

In an initiative the White House estimates will cost $59
billion over five years, Bush would expand the tax breaks
offered to those with HSAs and raise limits on contributions.

His health agenda also includes reining in malpractice
lawsuits and letting small businesses band together to buy
health insurance at preferred rates offered to larger
companies.

Democrats also lashed out at Bush over snafus in the
roll-out of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

The plan relies on private insurers, pharmacies and other
health-care companies to provide drug benefits to the elderly
and disabled. Many Medicare recipients have had difficulty
navigating the paperwork.

“The same Republicans who gave us a prescription drug
benefit that is confounding seniors and failing to meet their
needs are now trying to serve Americans an equally misguided
remedy for the country’s health care crisis in the form of
Health Savings Accounts,” said House Democratic Whip Steny
Hoyer of Maryland.

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria)