Ah, thanks for that. I was confusing HSAs and FSAs. FSAs are the ones you forfeit if you don’t use, while HSAs under the current rules can be carried forward indefinitely. FSAs are the ones I was thinking of as being suited for people with recurring expenses not fully covered under insurance.
And that is the fatal flaw in the Republican plan. If only the chronically ill apply for conventional plans, the only way the insurance companies can offer them is to continue the Obamacare mandate that everyone must have insurance, and guarantee coverage for everyone with pre-existing conditions.
So, getting back to Trump’s totally original and groundbreaking health care plan, he writes:
So… that’s all pretty much current policy, right? I’ve already exposed my ignorance on the issue, but a cursory googling suggests to me that HSAs are already included in estates and that you can already use them to pay for family members’ expenses. Is that right? So the only thing he’s proposing here that’s new is to exempt them from estate taxes?
You can already use them to pay dependent family members’ expenses, or those of a spouse if you file your taxes jointly. However, AIUI, you can’t use them to pay Grandma or Uncle Steve’s medical bills. I don’t know whether “any family member” is supposed to mean “any nuclear family member” or what.
Yes, although HSAs preceeded the enactment of Obamacare; they were first permitted in 2003 as part of the Bush Medicare revisions.
And you’d be absolutely right about FSA’s purpose. They’re a tax subsidy for OOP expenses and the more of those you have (up to the limit), the more subsidy you get. They’re ideally suited to folks with chronic conditions and predictable annual OOP expenses.
There’s no specific doctrinal reason that FSA’s have to be [use it or loose it]. Neither is there any specific rationale for the current $2500ish annual limit. Those are simply where the political horse trading came to an impasse. Horse trading between helping the working poor afford better health care, helping the middle class get a tax break, and breaking the Fed’s budget by granting too much tax relief to too many citizens.
That’s only a flaw in the Republican plan until you recognize their real goal is to have it collapse in a few years and thereby put UHC another 50 years into the future. Once they realized ACA was going to pass, they tried their damnedest to sabotage it along similar lines. And have been trying ever since.
Once you understand their actual goal, this isn’t a flaw, but rather a very key feature that totally sets them up for success.
And no, I’m not being sarcastic. I’m 100% serious.
ARRGGGHHHH…
I’m listening to Thurston Howell Romney the 3rd attempting to eviscerate Trump using reason, logic and big words. The tone-deafness is amazing and I think he just clinched the nomination for Trump. The backlash should be interesting and it might make tonight’s debate worth watching.
I keep expecting Trump to threaten to run 3rd party if his own party keeps up the attacks on him. I was half-expecting it Tuesday night when he announced his press conference but he tacked in the other direction, trying to set himself up as the standard-bearer for the GOP. But I think it was a warning shot over the GOP bow in a way.
This reality show keeps getting better and better.
Now that’s gotta hurt.
To which it would be a pleasant surprise if the Party/Movement were to say, “f*** it, go ahead, we’ll take one for the country”.
The really interesting thing would be if DT were to go Third Party, whether in some parts of the country the GOP would be the one left pulling up the rear as a hollowed out party.
At the very least it is at extreme risk to descend into an open “civil war” between the various schools of ideological conservatives and populist reactionaries. They have barely held together in the face of a Party-within-a-Party situation for 7 years
If the Republican plan fails, who will be blamed for it? If their plan fails, the insurance companies will be so damaged, the only alternative left is UHC. It will happen sooner, not later.
Some Trump supporters agree with Hitler remarks they’re told are Trump’s own: Donald Trump Supporters Agree With Hitler Quotes In Viral Video
These types of attacks reek of desperation.
Nothing there that mentions Sanders in any way.
Mis-leading much?
Oh come on, you know as well as I do that it would be very hard to find a more representative sample of Bernheads than the people at that rally.
The “attack” was by a comedy website. Though I can assure you that Democratic voters are indeed desperate to have Trump as the GOP nominee.
Trump just picked up 10 more delegates due to Super Tuesday counts being finalized. Cruz picked up 5 more. Cite.
According to CAIR, Trump is the most popular GOP candidate among Muslims. More popular than all the rest combined, in fact.
That is interesting. However, GOP support among Muslims is low overall. From the cite:
Romney comes out swinging. I suspect this will only help Trump by reinforcing his give-'em-hell, take-no-shit outsider credentials.
I’m convinced anybody who votes for Trump is mentally ill. Do we really need a president who insists on defending his penis size?