Skip to main content
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1996 Aug;86(8 Pt 1):1079–1081. doi: 10.2105/ajph.86.8_pt_1.1079

The role of employee flexible spending accounts in health care financing.

M Schweitzer 1, D A Asch 1
PMCID: PMC1380612  PMID: 8712264

Abstract

Employee flexible spending accounts for health care represent one component of the current health care financing system that merits serious reform. These accounts create a system of undesirable incentives, force employees and employers to take complicated gambles, reduce tax revenues, and fail to meet their purported policy objectives. This paper describes shortcomings in these accounts from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Some proposed alternatives; including medical spending accounts and zero balance accounts, resolve many of these concerns but not all of them.

Full text

PDF
1079

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Gramm P. Why we need medical savings accounts. N Engl J Med. 1994 Jun 16;330(24):1752–1753. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199406163302411. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES