e four-year period between January 1,1997 and December 31, 2000. At the end of the pilot, those employees with MSA accounts will be allowed to keep them.
With respect to the current status of the program, the National Center for Policy Analysis (2000) states that as the deadline approaches for the end of the pilot project, those in favor of these accounts are attempting to overcome some major hurdles that were placed there by Congress. First, the restriction of accounts nationwide to only 750,000 resulted in the overwhelming majority of insurance companies deciding the market was too small and the legal future of the accounts too uncertain; thus, in the entire project, only 60 insurers offering them.
Further limiting the potential market, Congress only allowed the self-employed and firms with fewer than 50 employees to take advantage of MSAs. Tax-free deposits are limited to 65 percent of the individual deductible for catastrophic health insurance, and 75 percent of the family deductible. Under federal rules, deductibl
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