Scenes from the 2008 Presidential campaign
We covered the stated policies of the major candidates during the 2008 election campaign. This page is retained on the site for reference.
Presidential Candidates on Health Savings Accounts
Barack Obama called for universal health care but did not mention HSAs or portable accounts. He wants mandatory insurance for children and a national insurance plan similar to the one available to federal government employees to be available to everyone.
John McCain advocated HSAs and changes in the tax laws to make them even more attractive. In an October 2007 speech, McCain wholeheartedly supported HSAs, saying "everyone should get a tax credit of $2500, $5000 for families, if they have health insurance" as "it is good tax policy to take away the bias toward giving workers benefits instead of wages."
Nurses.com wrote a good summary of the positions.
The parties' nominees positions were in part shaped by reaction to their competitors in the primaries.
In a Republican presidential candidate debate, Rudolf Giuliani said everyone should have access to HSAs. He proposed up to a $15,000 tax deduction for families to buy their own health insurance. Rudolf Guiliani's "12 commitments" (since removed from his website) included "I will give Americans more control over and access to health care with affordable and portable free-market solutions." This was not an explicit endorsement of HSAs, but Guiliani wrote in the Boston Globe a ringing endorsement of HSAs and even called for expanding them so that families without employer-based coverage could get a tax deduction of up to $15,000. In an editorial, the Washington Times criticized Giuliani's plan, saying he "must not have done the math" and that his plan would not help middle income people.
Mitt Romney's campaign website likewise promised "Governor Romney Will Apply Free-Market Principles To Health Care", and says he want to "let people have the opportunity to choose policies in the private sector." A couple of Romney's advisors published an opinion article in the Wall St. Journal extolling HSAs.
Mike Huckabee said the US health care system is "irrevocably broken". Among his proposals were to make HSAs available to everyone, not just people with HDHPs. Low income people who are already paying little income tax would get tax credits rather than deductions.
Hillary Clinton's campaign website said HSAs are not enough and criticized them as a project of the Bush Administration: "It's why their answer to the health care crisis is limited to creating health savings account, which allows the healthiest people to get the best deal, with little concern if the sickest get worse." She tied HSAs to Bush's overall governmental philosophy: "They call it the ownership society. But it's really the "on your own" society."
John Edwards called for more traditional universal health care coverage through employer sponsored plans and insurance pooling. He does not mention health saving accounts or anything similar in his plan.
We were unable to find any reference to HSAs or health insurance on the Ron Paul's campaign website.
Sam Brownback was a supporter of HSAs according to a report by an Iowa television station. His campaign website emphasized market-based savings and investment as an answer to the challenges faced by an aging society.
