Comments about ‘Resources available to employers to navigate tough health care choices’

I'm thrilled about the progress this country is making.

Who is going to pay for this "progress"?

Re: Mountainman

Who's going to pay for it? Well, first we powder up our muskets, then we kill several small varmints, then we skin them, then we store their furs in "caches," then we market those pelts for large amounts of money. (I thought you already knew how this worked)

Come on Bill, you want free stuff from the government, please tell us who is going to pay for it? Your president says he is going to tax the "rich" but that will only produce enough temporary revenue to fund the federal government for less than 10 days. What are we going to do about the other 355 days! America is waiting for your answer!

Don't fret, Mountanman. The taxpayers will pay for it. There's this document, maybe you've heard of it, it's called the "Constitution." Article 8 of this cherished parchment states:

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States."

Haha! Read 'em and weep, my friend! Are you going to cry now? Like a little baby?

Come on Bill, can't we have a discussion without you calling me names and trying to insult me? Need I remind you that we are $16.2 trillion in debt and growing by over $1.5 billion everyday? Obamacare alone is projected to cost taxpayers (even though we were promised it wasn't a tax) an additional $1.2 trillion each year! So, in all seriousness, I ask you again, who is going to pay for your entitlements?

The HSA is the only way to go. I am self-employed, so I purchase my own medical insurance. My previous employer was paying about $15,000 per year to insure my family of 4. I found a high deductible policy that costs $5,000 per year. The policy has some coverage for basic doctor visits, but there is the potential that we would have to pay up to $5,000 in a catastrophe. I make a $5,000 annual contribution to an HSA. The family spends about $2,000 per year from the HSA (which could include eyeglasses, braces, Lasik and RX drug co-pays), so that account has a tax free $12,000 balance after four years. I have saved (or accrued) over $30,000 from what my employer would have paid for the health care of my family over that period.

The HSA is part of the solution to the problem. It is cheaper today, and provides the potential to solve problems in the future. If every individual can save money in this manner, each generation will have funds to pay for future medical care rather than depending on the next generation.

OK, Mountanman. You're right, I went overboard. My apologies. But my answer is higher taxes on everyone. But, you have a good point. We have to figure out how to pay for it. The progress I referred to is that people with preexisting conditions can now get health insurance, and that young people can stay on their parents' insurance longer. I think those are two very good things. "My" president made those things happen. And now most Republicans consider them good parts of the healthcare law they don't want to erase. Any number of entitlement programs can disappear as far as I'm concerned, but not healthcare. No, we can't solve everyone's problems, but it's important to make reasonable efforts to help people when they are sick or injured. So, yeah, the budget is a problem, but in my opinion, we cut things in order to have access to health care.