The Trojan Horse in the Medicare Act

( Mother Jones )

A little-noted provision tucked into the Medicare Act of 2003 has raised serious concerns among health care advocates. The amendment, added by Republican lawmakers, offers tax breaks to citizens who opt out of traditional insurance schemes to invest in high deductible Health Savings Accounts. It may sound
benign, but critics charge that the plans will lure away the wealthiest and healthiest, driving up the cost of insurance and transferring the burden of payment to the less well-off. J. Patrick Rooney, a major GOP campaign donor who led a ten-year campaign on behalf of HSAs, is the big winner. Days before the Medicare bill passed, United Health Group paid $500 million in cash for Rooney's Golden Rule Insurance Co., which rolled out new health savings accounts within weeks of the bill's passage.

Medicare's Hidden Bonanza
By Michael Scherer (March/April 2004)

Mother Jones first reported on HSAs -- then known as Medical Savings Accounts -- in 1996 with a four-
article feature detailing Rooney's early efforts on behalf of his pet project.

MediKill
(January/February 1996 Issue)