Unfortunately, members of the US House of Representatives have once again shown that they do not trust individuals to make the right decisions for themselves.  The members of the House have shown their reactionary instincts in moving the US economy to state control.  They are just determined that no individual should have any individual choice in the US.  Instead, they want us all to become completely dependent on the government.  The House of Representatives, in an appalling bit of Orwellian legerdemain, have included a provision in a newly passed bill a provision that serves to undermine health savings accounts (”HSAs”).  I a bill (HR 5719) entitled “Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act” they include a provision that seeks to do anything BUT assist taxpayers or make their lives simpler.  Instead, this provision seeks to complicate one of the better innovations of recent years that help individuals get a handle on their medical expenses.  HSAs have been an important new tool that employers have been able to use to assist with their social desire to provide robust medical coverage for their employees.  Instead of seeking to assist with that desire, statist legislators instead seek to put up administrative roadblocks and hassles to make sure that employers and their employees will just throw up their hands and submit to the plan that all medical benefits be controlled by the federal government.  HSAs are an important new method of providing affordable health care coverage.  A recent survey found that 27 percent of new plans were purchased by individuals who previously did not have health insurance.  HSAs are already heavily regulated and have numerous controls in place.  Nevertheless, they are designed to permit the individual owners of the HSAs to have control over where, when, and how those funds are expended.  It is simply amazing that Congress would add new requirements that would limit the availability of this new option for affordable health care coverage without careful study. The provision seeks to make it mandatory to have additional substantiation of employee medical expenses before getting reimbursed from their HSAs.  Non medial expenses are already subject to income tax and a penalty.  Yet, this provision seeks to include this provision as an income generating proposal.  That is clearly absurd.  It would lose income as those penalties for non medical uses would be lost.  In addition, it is a veiled attack on the entire idea that individuals can and should have a say in how their funds are used for medical expenses.  Those unrelenting statists in the House seek to undercut those abilities at every opportunity.  The provision is unnecessary and has not been studied. Current law provides that amounts that are withdrawn from HSAs that are not used for qualified medical expenses are taxed at the account owner’s marginal tax rate as well as an additional 10 percent tax.  There is no evidence that current tax penalties are not working so further study is required before any legislation is considered. The provision should be considered separately on its own health care policy merits.  A significant change in health policy such as this that could affect the health care coverage of millions of Americans should be considered on its own merits — after congressional hearings – not as a revenue-raiser in unrelated legislation.All Americans who believe the power of the individual to think and be responsible for himself should be encouraged to write to their legislators before this appalling bit of legislation becomes enacted. Jay M. KirschbaumChesterfield