The State of the Union address included a brief mention of the administration's plans to make health savings accounts (HSAs) more attractive to consumers and promote IT in healthcare but avoided a major policy announcement some observers had been predicting. Instead the headline announcement came in energy policy. Observers who had predicted the president to launch a defense of the much-criticized Medicare Part D program were also proven wrong. Expect some attempts to push legislation on malpractice, association health plans, and extending tax-deductibility of HSAs, but also expect this to get rapidly caught up in the November election rhetoric.
- see this article from The New York Times
PLUS: The Christian Science Monitor provides an excellent discussion of the fine print of the Bush proposals, analyzing the pros and cons of each policy position. Article