President Bush advocated bigger tax incentives for health savings accounts. We believe the President should have used his incumbent status to push for a far better and more aggressive solution - a bipartisan commission designated to finding a long-term solution to the nation's growing health care crisis.

Currently there are more than 45 million Americans without health insurance. Worse yet, it is estimated that half of all bankruptcies are related to medical bills. Even among those who have health insurance, the amount of bankruptcies attributable to medical bills is atrociously high.

Health savings accounts (HSA) do not provide an adequate solution. For a young person with no medical problems, an HSA does have advantages. It allows a person to pay less in premiums and put money aside tax-free. Under an HSA plan, a person buys a high-deductible plan that only pays for catastrophic care - think a major car accident.

The downside is that if a person does not have enough money in his HSA or comes down with an illness or injury that is not costly enough for the insurance to kick in (think pneumonia or a torn ligament), the advantages quickly vanish. Furthermore, HSA plans may, unintentionally, cause people to forgo important wellness procedures such as thyroid and diabetes tests.

The far bigger problem is that the health care system is bureaucratic and will never be truly efficient. Anyone who has challenged a medical bill - and we strongly recommend challenging any medical bill above $50, because the rate of errors is so high – can attest to the bureaucracy. Efficiency refers to the ability to understand pricing and compare options. Even if prices easily identifiable, most patients do not have the knowledge to determine what medical care is truly necessary. Not to mention the fact that the cheapest doctor or hospital is the not best doctor or hospital.

We do not have the answers to resolving the health care crisis, though from a capitalistic standpoint, a socialized health care system - if constructed and instituted properly - makes sense. It would lower reliance on emergency room care - a contributor to elevating health care costs, more evenly distribute the expense of care, and would materially cut down on medical-related bankruptcies. Additionally, by reducing the bureaucracy and problems related with medical bills, it could boost overall productivity (less time spent resolving incorrect invoices).

We are not naive to the problems with socialized health care systems in other countries. However, we do believe that there is enough brainpower in the U.S. to figure out what does work and to create a program without the pitfalls that plague other nationalized programs. More importantly, ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT and we, at NetSweat, consider it immoral to continue letting 45 million people go without medical insurance.

If you agree with us, tell your Representative and Senator. You can find contact information for both at http://www.house.gov and http://www.senate.gov. For information on the healthcare crisis, visit the Kaiser Family Foundation and Physicians for a National Health Program.

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