By now, legislators should have corrected the error they inadvertently made last year when they passed a bill requiring insurers to provide coverage for early intervention health care for children with developmental disabilities. That law set in motion a technicality that prohibits the state from offering health savings accounts (HSAs) to small businesses. Because the early intervention initiative targeted lower income children, the legislation prohibited deductibles and co-insurance.
Consequently, HSAs – which must be coupled with a high-deductible insurance plan – cannot be offered in Rhode Island because of that prohibition.
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Since President Bush signed them into law last year, business owners all over the country have the option of offering HSAs, high-deductible, but tax-free accounts that workers can use to pay for health care expenses not covered by their insurance. Unless, of course, their business happens to be located in Rhode Island.
Fortunately, House bill 5228, which would correct that technicality by allowing HSAs to be offered in conjunction with high-deductible insurance plans, is now before the House Finance Committee. We support the National Federation of Independent Business, which is lobbying for the passage of the legislation on behalf of Rhode Island small businesses.
Proponents tout HSAs as an innovative approach to promoting consumer-driven health insurance and point to various studies indicating that they do save money. They have become increasingly popular.
Here in Rhode Island, that state law technically prohibiting HSAs only became clear last year because UnitedHealthcare proposed such a program, only to be informed by the state Department of Business Regulation that it did not pass muster. UnitedHealthcare has an HSA program ready to roll here and Blue Cross & Blue Shield has also indicated that it would make one available.
The existing legislation can be tweaked so that early intervention health insurance coverage for children with developmental disabilities remains intact, while at the same time making HSAs available.
Legislators can still remedy an error they made in 2004. But time is running out.
Way to go Bulldogs!
Congratulations to the Bryant University men’s basketball team. Led by head coach Max Good and point guard John Williams, the Bulldogs capped a record-breaking 25-win season by advancing to the NCAA Division II championship in Grand Forks, N.D., where they lost a close game to Virginia Union.
Bryant’s march to the championship brought the school – and the state – some terrific press and its final game was on national television. You can’t buy that kind of exposure.
Bryant President Ronald Machtley – and the rest of the state – should be proud of the team and its accomplishments.
