The senate finance committee recently discussed a proposal which would have dire consequences on a thriving industry and leave Americans facing increased taxes and loss of benefits.
At FlexSave, we typically don't take a stance on these types of industry or market-related circumstances. However, in a situation like this, we must speak up due to its direct impact on us, the community, and the nation. We are compelled to make citizens aware of the impact of the proposed reform and encourage everyone to express concern to their senators and congressman.
On May 20, the Senate Finance Committee met in Washington to outline options for potential health care reform designed to fix the amount of uninsured in this country. The document issued is titled, "Financing Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Proposed Health System Savings and Revenue Options." In this document, the senate outlines a variety of options which include repealing, capping or reducing the employer-exclusion and eliminating pre-tax benefits like flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health savings accounts (HSAs), and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).
There are currently over 48 million Americans participating in flexible spending accounts, and hundreds of thousands working in the flex spending industry. Taking away these benefits and closing the industry would have a devastating effect on thousands locally, and across the country. Millions would lose pre-tax benefits that help them pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses, daycare, and health insurance.
In addition employers will be forced to increase employee costs because of a proposed reduction or elimination of the health insurance tax credit. Health insurance costs to employees will become exacerbated coupled with the fact that they lose the pre-tax savings on health expenses, insurance premiums, child care etc. All of these negative effects will come about to fix roughly 15% of the population that do not have health insurance. The Senate is going to negatively impact the 85% that have insurance and affect the 48,000,000 employees who use FSAs, HRAs and HSAs.
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