Congressional Mommyism

Congress is trying to protect health insurance companies from…well, us.

This week, the House passed legislation that included a provision to require every HSA transaction be reviewed and verified as a legitimate medical expense. Democrats say this is to ensure that consumers are using their tax-free withdrawals for a knee replacement, rather than a new iPod.

Because, you know, insurance companies are so very gullible and vulnerable when it comes to people scamming them.

A key player here is Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, whose main purpose in politics is to give the U.S. a government-run health-care system. He is a known opponent of HSAs – once comparing them to "weapons of mass destruction" – because they introduce more individual choice into the health-care marketplace.

I would mock the voters in Rep. Stark’s district (San Fransisco – go figure), except that I live in Tammy Baldwin’s district, and would therefore be throwing stones from inside my own glass house.

Pushing for the provision was a company called Evolution Benefits, which has patented a system for the substantiation of health-care expenses... Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel helped make sure the provision was in the bill, which passed largely on partisan lines.

Congressional Democrats^TM: now with extra corporate graft!

Since HSAs were created in December 2003, 3.2 million HSA accounts have been opened, covering 4.5 million Americans. Nearly a third of new HSA users previously had no insurance and bought coverage on their own. Thirty-three percent are small businesses that had not previously offered coverage to their employees. Isn't this what good progressives claim to want?

Or isn’t it good enough, because it’s not taxpayer-funded?