Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Last year, I wondered why it took so long for President Bush to join his own call to Americans to establish and fund Health Savings Accounts—Bush had touted them at least since 2004 but waited until 2005 to fund his, and Vice President Cheney did not fund one in either 2004 or 2005. (I would certainly expect that Dick Cheney, whose medical conditions are varied and complicated, would certainly be a prime candidate for the best health care possible.)
Thanks to the helpful folks at the Tax History Project, the 2006 tax returns for George and Laura Bush and Dick and Lynne Cheney are now available. And somehow neither couple claimed an adjustment to income on Line 25 ("Health savings account deduction").
But what was President Bush saying about HSAs just last month, mere days before the files of his 2006 tax return?
I'm pleased to report that people have come to realize the benefits of health savings accounts, such as, one, health savings accounts are affordable for individuals and small businesses. In other words, if you're a small business owner and you're worried about providing good health care for your employees, you ought to look into a health savings account as a way to provide that benefit to your employees.
Secondly, health savings accounts enable a person to save, tax-free, for medical expenses. By making rational decisions about your life, you'll end up with more money in your health savings account, on a tax-free basis.
And thirdly, that savings account is something you can carry with you from job to job. A lot of people in America change jobs on a regular basis, and they are deeply concerned about whether or not they'll have a health care plan when they change jobs. And the health savings account enables you to carry your money that you've saved on a tax-free basis from one job to the next.
As the Old Man might have written, it is not for nothing that Bush talks so glowingly about the benefits of these accounts, yet does not use them in his own life. Perhaps they are more beneficial to the groups that offer them than they are to the masses who might be stuck with them.
Labels: 2006 tax returns, Do as I say, George Bush, health savings accounts
