March/April 1998

Articles on the theme "Regeneration"

The Cosmic Dance
by Bob Gonzalez
How energy is transformed by Life's play. Foods and emotions that help regeneration.

An Ayurvedic Perspective
by Dinesh Mader
Ayurveda, the world's oldest science of healing, and its approach to regeneration.

The Jewel Within
by Rev. Pat Cross
A discussion of our spirituality and how we can recover our intrinsic abilities.

The Path of the Heart
by Carlos Warter MD
The importance of opening the heart to realize one's essential health and well-being, and achieve spiritual regeneration.

The New You
by Karin Pekarcik
How to reinvent yourself and create the You you really want to be.

The Psychology of Regeneration
by Patrick Plaskett
Undoing negative programming and becoming once again "as little children".

A New Light Body? by Audrey Craft Davis
Tuning into the body's ability to regenerate itself. A look at the future as we move into the fourth and fifth dimensions.

Physical Regeneration
by Zygmunt K. Skowronek
Concerning the importance of getting the nutrients we need in our diet.

Spiritual Regeneration
by Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati How meditation can lead to greater awareness of the moment and the God inside of you. Followed by a suggested meditation.

Walking on Fire
by Alvin Bartz
A hypnotherapist's account of a fire-walk experience. Regenerating the spirit to overcome self-limitations.

The Problem of Regeneration
by David Findlay
Making sure that what we re-generate is what we want to re-generate.

Other Feature Articles

Natural Health Q&A
by Eliabeth Fenton and Renee Gillombardo
A discussion of three characteristics of emotional health.

What is . . . A Medical Savings Account
by Susan Moyers
A tax-deferred savings account that allows you to select your own doctor and covers a variety of "alternative" therapies.

What is . . .
A Medical Savings Account?

by Susan Moyers

Rising health care costs and a steady decline in private health insurance have provoked confusion, frustration, and even anger among consumers and health care providers alike. Average health premiums have more than doubled since 1988, and industry analysts forecast another five to six percent rise during 1998. A family policy that cost $200 per month ten years ago, now costs $450 -- for just one month's coverage. With these overwhelming costs, it is not surprising that 15% of the US population -- 40 million Americans -- go without health insurance.

Heated political debates over the issue have resulted in numerous proposals to make medical insurance more affordable and attainable. One such idea involves the Medical Savings Account or MSA. The MSAs are being floated in a pilot project, made possible by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

MSA vs. traditional insurance

MSAs introduce a new way to pay for health care. Under conventional health insurance, people remit premiums to an insurer such as Blue Cross, and the insurer pays medical bills as they occur. With an MSA, people still pay premiums to an insurer, but the premiums are lower because the policy covers only "catastrophic" expenses - typically above $2,250 for individuals, and $4,500 for families.

Part of the money saved by the lower insurance premium is deposited to the Medical Savings Account. Individuals can withdraw funds from their MSA to pay smaller health care expenses, up to the limit of $2,250 or $4,500. Funds in the MSA that are not used for medical expenses grow with interest and accumulate tax-deferred until you reach age 65 or become disabled. They can be applied to medical expenses after retirement, rolled over into an IRA, or allocated as part of an estate.

If funds accumulate earning tax-deferred interest, what does this mean in real dollars? Well, if a 35-year-old person with a family MSA deposited $3,375 a year in the account, and spent an average of $1,450 a year on medical expenses, by retirement at age 65, the person would have more than $134,290 in savings.

The pilot MSAs are not for everyone. The pilot program is limited to 750,000 participants, and has a cutoff date of 2001. Only self-employed people and small firms (50 or fewer employees) are eligible. Recently, eligibility was also extended to some retirees who receive Medicare.

Pluses and Minuses

As with many health care funding options, there are advantages and disadvantages, and voices pro and con. Critics say that MSAs benefit the healthy and the wealthy and make things worse for everybody else. It is clear that MSAs offer a good savings option for people who seldom use doctors or health care providers, and who can afford up to $4,500 in out-of-pocket expenses should they become ill.

But people with lower incomes or large medical bills run the danger of getting clobbered with out-of-pocket medical bills that exceed funds in their MSA. There is also concern that with too many MSA participants, premiums for other policies will rise because people who expect to be healthy will no longer buy them, leaving only high-risk people to distribute the risk in the risk pool.

Right now, MSAs are not very popular. They have been available since 1997, and response by consumers has been weak. The Internal Revenue Service is tracking the number of MSAs being established, and will close off access when the quota of 750,000 accounts has been met. If present trends continue, this is not expected to occur until year 2000.

Spend Your Own Money

Underlying the concept of an MSA is the notion that the health care system has been wasteful, sometimes providing services that patients would not authorize if they had to pay for them out-of-pocket. As economist Milton Friedman puts it, "Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own." MSAs give control over the funds to the person who has the strongest incentive to use them most efficiently.

One of the proposed results of MSAs is that people will become price sensitive to physician services, enabling free market dynamics to force lower prices, and better quality and efficiency in health care. People will select doctors the way they select other services - based on cost, quality, and value. Some say that MSAs will result in better doctors charging higher fees, limiting access of lower and middle income people to quality health care. Moreover, many experts maintain that most consumers lack the expertise to distinguish a good health care provider from a bad one, and cannot effectively judge what health services they really need.

Select Your Own Doctor

MSA participants can see any doctor or health care provider they choose. There is no bureaucracy to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. This may come as a great relief to people currently confined to using only doctors in their HMO, and services the HMO authorizes.

Another benefit: the scope of services that qualify for MSA payments is larger than most conventional insurance offers. MSA funds can be used for certain "alternative" therapies, such as acupuncture, as well as preventive medicine, dental care, and contact lenses. To find out more about which expenses do qualify, order IRS Publication 502, by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).

To set up an MSA, you must first buy a health insurance policy that has a high deductible - up to $2,250 for individuals and $4,500 for families. The next step is to link up with a bank or insurance company that offers MSAs. Any insurance company or bank can qualify, but many of them do not offer MSA accounts.

Before you commit, be sure to find out how much the plan charges in fees, how much interest the account earns, and when the interest begins (in the first year of the plan or later). It is a also good idea to learn how the insurer rates among well-known ratings agencies, such as A.M. Best (1-800-424-BEST), Moody's (212-553-0377) or Standard & Poor's (212-208-1527).

Susan Moyers is a writer and educator focusing on health and science issues. She is the author of the popular book "Garlic in Health, History, and World Cuisine". 813-393-5986

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