Mimnaugh: Why does the law deny us the health care plan we need?

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Mimnaugh: Why does the law deny us the health care plan we need?

By JOHN MIMNAUGHYour Turn, NH 18 hours, 41 minutes ago

'YOU HAVE MS — specifically, relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis."

With those words, my wife and I began the journey back to as normal a life as possible. In addition to choosing a course of treatment, we reviewed our diet, daily exercise routine, work schedules and our respective health plans sponsored through both of our employers.

The approach we took was to view the fight against MS as long-term and to be as proactive as possible. This two-tier approach meant also changing my wife's work status from full-time to part-time (a reduction in the day-to-day stress load) and to faithfully follow a prescription drug regimen consisting of an Interferon drug taken every other day. While the MS prognosis tends to vary from patient to patient, a positive outlook does help focus and prioritize what is important and worthwhile in our lives today and tomorrow.

In planning for a productive tomorrow it is our hope that Congress might revisit and amend the existing Health Savings Account legislation as it applies to those individuals with a catastrophic illness such as MS.

The Health Savings Account (HSA) is the latest trend in health care vehicles, particularly so for the younger population and those with, at present, minimal health care issues or concerns. There is a fairly high savings on premium costs and the carryover provision for unspent contributions makes it potentially a cost-saver for future medical needs. The fact that it is portable (transfer from one employer to another) and can earn interest and grow the principal via money markets, bonds and mutual funds makes it viable for both short- and long-term health care strategies.

However, those with a major illness or with multiple health care concerns will not fare as well when electing an HSA. Under the present federal guidelines for HSAs, one can only elect a high-deductible plan to offset the HSA. The traditional employer-sponsored health plans (higher premiums, but lower deductible and co-payment requirements) are prohibited in this case.

Generally, for high-deductible plans, most eligible expenses, including prescription drugs, are subject to the deductible (no Rx co-payments). A patient with MS would therefore have to satisfy the front-end deductible in full before the HSA benefits would kick in for any medication. The typical MS Interferon annual drug treatment is $16,000 to $24,000. The front-end deductible (potentially $3,000 on some high-deductible plans) would presumably be paid out from an HSA and would essentially wipe out the annual savings each year.

Therefore, under the present guidelines only those of reasonable health have the viable option to save or roll their medical savings from year-to-year via the HSA since an individual with a catastrophic illness would spend all current HSA savings annually. I would like to change this so that those in good health and those with an illness can save for their retirement medical needs — a retirement which for many no longer allows the option for a traditional "retiree" medical plan.

I am therefore proposing that the federal HSA guidelines be amended so that those with a catastrophic illness can continue to elect the traditional employer-sponsored health plan and also be allowed to open an HSA for pretax employee deductions (to be fair, the employer match can be waived). No withdrawals will occur from the HSA account without penalty while an employee is covered under a traditional employer-sponsored health plan.

Amending the qualifications for an HSA in this manner would help fill the health care plan gap for those already diagnosed with a major illness and allow all a viable option to save pretax money for their future medical needs at retirement.

Mimnaugh lives in Warner.

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