Obama’s HSA Gambit a Net Minus?

President Obama evidently thinks that if he promises not to kill health savings accounts (HSAs), opponents will swoon for his government takeover of health care. If that doesn’t do the trick, he should make clear that his health plan would not eliminate other things too, like the Defense Department and puppies.


Of course, that hollow gesture didn’t win the president any Republican support. But it may have cost him some Democratic support — or at least frayed the nerves of a few House Democrats. According to CongressDaily:

Liberals, meanwhile, are fuming over an addition Obama made to his proposal to make the effort appear bipartisan and possibly switch the votes of moderate Democrats who opposed the House bill last year.


The Congressional Progressive Caucus co‐​chairman, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D‐​Ariz., said Wednesday he is disturbed and bitter about an addition he said goes against Democratic principles.


“I’ve been leaning ‘no’ for a long time. That hasn’t changed,” Grijalva said about voting for the healthcare overhaul the Senate passed in December and a package of changes that would move through a separate bill through reconciliation.


Obama indicated he might be open to a provision that would encourage the use of health savings accounts, a tax‐​exempt savings account that typically is used in conjunction with a high‐​deductible plan. The provision would allow the exchanges to offer high‐​deductible plans.


“For some of us, the bitterness about HSAs in and the public option completely out, I don’t know how long that’s going to linger,” Grijalva said.

Which tends to confirm what HSA supporters have long feared: killing HSAs is the Left’s game plan.