Origins. Apparently, the idea of health savings accounts was independently conceived by many people. After the concept was introduced to the NCPA by Senior Fellow Jesse Hixson, the American Medical Association’s chief economist for many years, NCPA President John Goodman and Senior Fellow Gerald Musgrave developedit through many publications. As a spokesman for the idea, Goodman was called the “Father of Medical Savings Accounts” by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer and the Wall Street Journal. More recently, the National Journal called him the “Father of HSAs.”
Though HSAs might not exist today without the NCPA’s work, other groups also made important contributions — including the Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI), the MSA Coalition and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Early History. In January 1984, the NCPA published a plan to use individually owned “medical IRAs” to solve the long-term problem of Medicare. Two months later, Goodman and Richard Rahn, then chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, outlined this plan in a Wall Street Journal article. That same year Singapore introduced a mandatory “Medisave” program.
Goodman and Musgrave wrote a seminal study documenting opportunities in the United States to select high-deductible health insurance and place the premium savings in a personal health account to pay for small medical expenses. A follow-up study contrasted MSAs and managed care. A Health Affairs article by Goodman and Wharton School economist Mark Pauly showed how the tax system could encourage healthinsurance without distorting health care choices through the use of Roth-type medical savings accounts
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