A couple of weeks ago I noted that congressional Democrats were working on a plan to effectively kill health savings accounts.  The WSJ reports that the plot continues apace:

This week, the House passed legislation that included a provision to require every HSA transaction be reviewed and verified as a legitimate medical expense … it adds a layer of bureaucracy that could sharply reduce the appeal and cost savings of HSAs.

The Democrat plan is a typically dishonest piece of regulatory skulduggery designed to kill a promising free market innovation before it has a chance to really take root:

The new scheme purports to ensure that money saved tax-free in an HSA is actually used for health expenses. But this is a nonproblem: Any withdrawal from an HSA is already subject to a federal tax audit, just as individual tax returns are.

To discover the true agenda behind this legislative subterfuge, one need only ask which “representative of the people” is behind it:

A key player here is Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, whose main purpose in politics is to give the U.S. a government-run health-care system. He is a known opponent of HSAs.

This legislation will seriously restrict the ability of consumers to control their own money in their own health savings accounts. Sound crazy? Not to Democrats who want to impose government-run health care on the country.

Nothing makes creatures like Pete Stark more uneasy than empowered health care consumers making their own decisions. Congressional Democrats want to kill HSAs before the public figures out how well they work.