Medical savings accounts and the uninsured in Oklahoma

Medical savings accounts (MSAs) and medical IRAs are important components of a "market-based" strategy for health care reform that have been opposed by many physicians for several reasons including lack of the applicability of these concepts to solving the problem of the uninsured. On closer inspection of the uninsured in Oklahoma, it is apparent that the majority of the uninsured in Oklahoma are in groups with annual incomes which allow a majority of persons within those groups to afford health insurance. Medical savings accounts are flexible, affordable, and portable forms of health coverage which are already being used in other states by significant numbers of persons with annual incomes similar to the majority of Oklahomans who are uninsured. Physicians are encouraged to support the implementation of these concepts as well as other market-based concepts in order to bring about fiscally responsible and truly effective health care reform.