HR 3708: Is Pre-Deductible Coverage of Direct Primary Care a Feature or a Bug of The Primary Care Enhancement Act?

Aren’t HSAs intended to empower patient choice? Enabling plans and employers to influence the patient’s selection ofprimary care physician seems antithetical to this purpose.

DPC practices are rightly concerned about the numerous limitations HR 3708 would impose on their innovative model. Yet, the limitations on HSA-eligible DPC arrangements are needed “to keep the cost score estimate of the legislation down,” the flawed argument goes.

But the tax impact occurs when dollars are put into an HSA and not when they are spent, so why so much fuss? Yes, the bill would cause more people to become eligible to fund their HSAs tax-free. That would indeed be a source of lost tax revenue. However, wouldn’t the cost in lost tax revenue be about the same irrespective of how a DPC arrangement is designed, assuming patients are funding their HSA up to the modest limits allowed per year anyhow?