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| EST. READ TIME 1 MIN.Medical Savings Accounts
Medical savings accounts (MSAs) are health accounts that are established in conjunction with high-deductible health insurance. They can be set up by individuals, employers, or by the government. The most common type is the American employer-funded MSAs. In this type of health plan, employers purchase a high-deductible, or catastrophic, insurance policy for their employees, which is much cheaper than a traditional insurance package. Employers then deposit a portion of the funds saved into MSAs for their employees, who then use these funds to purchase medical care. Once these funds have been exhausted, the employees are responsible for the payment of their medical care up to the cap where the catastrophic insurance begins. All of the MSA funds belong to the employee, including any funds remaining in the account after a specific period (usually a year).
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Cynthia Ramsay
Cynthia Ramsay is a Vancouver-based consultant specializing in health economics. Her report for the Commission on the Future of HealthCare in Canada, headed by the Hon. Roy Romanow, is included in The Fiscal Sustainability of Health Care in Canada , a collection of essays published by the University of Toronto Press in 2004. She also contributed a chapter to Dr. David Gratzer's book, Better Medicine: Reforming Canadian Health Care , and she is the author of The Fraser Institute publication on natural health products, A Cure Worse than the Illness (February 2002) . As well, she authored Beyond the Public-Private Debate: An Examination of Quality, Access and Cost in the Health-Care Systems of Eight Countries , which was released in July 2001 by Western Sky Communications Ltd.In addition to consulting, Ms. Ramsay is owner and publisher of the Jewish Independent , formerly the Jewish Western Bulletin , British Columbia's only Jewish community newspaper. From 1993 to 1998, Ms. Ramsay was senior health economist at The Fraser Institute in Vancouver. She wrote the institute's study on medical savings accounts for Canada, co-authored numerous editions of the Institute's annual waiting list survey, and is co-editor of the Institute book, Healthy Incentives: Canadian Health Reform in an International Context . Ms. Ramsay has written numerous articles that have contributed to the Canadian health care debate and she has spoken to groups in Canada and the United States on the necessity of market-based health care reform. From 1990-1992, Ms. Ramsay worked for Statistics Canada as an economic analyst. She received her BA (Honours) in economics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and her MA in economics from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC.… Read more Read Less…
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