Assessing the impact of healthcare reform

With the State of the Union speech scheduled for tonight, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows many Americans (20 percent) feel changes to the healthcare system should be a top priority. Many are also worried about the current state of Medicare's prescription drug system (11 percent), although more say the Iraq War must be addressed before either domestic issue is tackled. Respondents also said they would prefer Congress to take the lead rather than the President.

Exactly what it all means is unclear, except that we will be hearing a great deal about healthcare in the weeks and months to come. Economists are divided over how well plans to move to consumer driven healthcare plans will work out in the long run. But over the short term there is little doubt that companies that specialize in health savings accounts (HSAs) will get a boost if the President moves forward as expected.

- see this survey from NBC News/Wall Street Journal (.pdf)
- read this article from the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)

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