Medical savings account (United States)

Health care in the United States
Government Health Programs
Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Indian Health Service Veterans Health Administration Military Health System / TRICARE Medicare Medicaid / State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Prescription Assistance (SPAP)
Private health coverage
Health insurance in the United States Consumer-driven health care Flexible spending account (FSA) Health Reimbursement Account Health savings account (HSA) High-deductible health plan (HDHP) Medical savings account (MSA) Private Fee-For-Service (PFFS) Managed care (CCP) Health maintenance organization (HMO) Preferred provider organization (PPO) Exclusive provider organization (EPO) Medical underwriting
Health care reform law
Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (1986) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996) Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (2003) Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (2005) Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (2009) Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)
State level reform
Massachusetts health care reform Oregon Health Plan Vermont health care reform SustiNet (Connecticut) Dirigo Health (Maine)
Municipal health coverage
Fair Share Health Care Act (Maryland) Healthy Howard (Howard Co., Maryland) Healthy San Francisco My Health LA Healthy Way LA
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In the United States, a medical savings account (MSA) refers to a medical savings account program, generally associated with self-employed individuals, in which tax-deferred deposits can be made for medical expenses. Withdrawals from the MSA are tax-free if used to pay for qualified medical expenses. The MSA must be coupled with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). Withdrawals from MSA go toward paying the deductible expenses in a given year. MSA account funds can cover expenses related to most forms of health care, disability, dental care, vision care, and long-term care, whether the expenses were billed through the qualifying insurance or otherwise.

Once the plan deductible is met in a given year, the HDHP will pay any remaining covered medical expenses in that year. If there are funds remaining in the MSA at the end of the year, the funds can either roll over for the following year or can be withdrawn as taxable income.

MSAs are similar to health savings accounts (HSAs), which were established as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.

The idea of the MSA appears to have come from health care analysts that were concerned about the problem of overinsurance. They reasoned that overinsurance was raising the cost of health care expenses. They further reasoned that if patients (as opposed to third-party payers) paid their own medical expenses, then the cost of health care would decrease.

During the early 1990s, think tanks such as the National Center for Policy Analysis and insurance companies such Golden Rule Insurance Company began to promote passage of a law that would allow for tax-free contributions to a medical savings account. Even though the US Congress was under Republican control and the MSA concept was central to the Republican Party's health care agenda, a federal MSA law failed to materialize during the 1990s. However, Congress did pass an MSA pilot as a part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996. In the meantime, some states also pass MSA legislation. Missouri was the first state to do so in 1993. By 1998, 25 states had some form of MSA legislation offering a state tax break to those who open MSAs.

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Wikipedia