Health Policy News

Health Policy News
Name
Institutional affiliation
Date

“Don’t Get Tripped Up By the IRS’ Tweak to Health Savings Accounts” By Michelle Andrews
The key players in this policy are people who finance their healthcare through health savings accounts rather than taking health insurance covers. It also involves the internal revenue services (IRS) and policymakers. The main issue revolves around the maximum amount of money that can be saved in a health savings account. A health savings account is an account set up by an individual to help manage their health-related expenditure when they do not have an insurance cover. This amount is allowed to grow without tax. It can also be used without attracting taxes as long as it is used for health-related expenses. Of course, these accounts can then become an avenue for evading taxation. To prevent this, there are upper cap limits for the amount that one can contribute to the account. This cap is adjusted annually to cater for inflation and increases in health-related costs. For the year 2018, the IRS had already announced that for those who have individual plans, they can pay up to $3,450. For those who have families to cater for with health savings accounts were initially allowed to pay up to $6,900 for the year 2018. However, due to changes in the federal government’s calculations used to adjust for inflation, the amount has been reduced by $50. The maximum allowable amount for family savings is, therefore, $6850. This means that those who had already paid $6900 have to act towards withdrawing the excess $50.

Failure to do this will mean that the amount is taxable and will attract a fine for overpaying.
This policy affects the individuals who use the health savings accounts to cover families. Most of the individuals are likely to have already deposited $6900 for health cover. The individuals will not have to contact their banking systems to ensure that the amount is reduced to $6850 to avoid penalties associated with overpaying. It also concerns the internal revenue authority that will have to deal with cases of overpayment and the tax owed due to overpayment.
“Americans Have Mixed Feelings about the ACA’s Future — But Like Their Plans” By Rachel Bluth
The main players in this policy are the federal government and the individuals who by insurance premiums through the marketplaces. The main issue concerns a policy that will take effect in 2019. This policy will make people able to take shorter insurance plans of up to 12months rather than the previously allowed 3 months. This allows people with particular conditions to pay for particular times. Since ACA is still in place, insurers can not reject these applications and cannot force them to take longer terms. Although only 12% of the buyers of policy from marketplaces have indicated that they could be willing to take the short-term options, there is fear that the number could grow as the options become more real. 53% of the people who purchase insurance from the marketplace already feel that this avenue is collapsing. The allowance of longer short-term payments is accompanied by the intent to relax penalties for individuals without insurance covers. This is more risky for individuals.
This policies concern especially concerns the individuals who purchase the insurance policies from the marketplaces. If these avenues fail, they are likely to be forced to get the services from the individual markets. These are often more expensive and less regulated. Most of these people are comfortable with the marketplace where they did not encounter raises in premiums this year. It is therefore paramount for ACA to continue to allow more people to access affordable healthcare.
References
Andrews, M. (2018). Don’t Get Tripped Up By The IRS Tweak To Health Savings Accounts. Kaiser Health News. Retrieved 3 April 2018, from https://khn.org/news/dont-get-tripped-up-by-the-irs-tweak-to-health-savings-accounts/
Bluth, R. (2018). Americans Have Mixed Feelings About The ACA’s Future — But Like Their Plans. Kaiser Health News. Retrieved 3 April 2018, from https://khn.org/news/americans-have-mixed-feelings-about-the-acas-future-but-like-their-plans/
Martin, R. (2017). IRS allows higher retirement savings account limits for 2018. Cbsnews.com. Retrieved 3 April 2018, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/irs-allows-higher-retirement-savings-account-limits-in-2018/