Richardson Would Repeal Health Savings Accounts

Anyone who has taken a close look at Bill Richardson’s plan to reform health care in New Mexico or the national health care system can see that our supposedly “market Democrat” Governor abandons all reliance on the marketplace when it comes to health care. That said, I was surprised to see that Richardson recently spoke in favor of abolishing health savings accounts.
His arguments, that “They (HSA’s) are a step backward” and that “They put working families at risk because most families cannot afford to pay the … out of pocket costs” strike me as bizarre and uninformed. Now, HSA’s are not the silver bullet for health care reform, but I don’t really see how giving health care consumers more control over their care would be seen as a step backward or how they put families at risk.
More likely, it seems that Richardson doesn’t like market-based approaches to health care because they make his efforts to put such decisions in the hands of government officials more difficult. That is unfortunate.