Grace-Marie Turner of Galen has just offered a useful explanation of what the Tax Reform Panel
has in mind regarding health care related taxes and incentives. 
The proposed “Save for Family” accounts could replace the health
savings accounts (which we worked so hard to get).  HSAs are
triple-tax advantaged and you do not lose money you don’t use. 
But deposits to the proposed new accounts are not pre-tax and, even
though an amount of $5,000 for individuals or $10,500 could be used to
purchase insurance or care, the amount would have to be used up each
year. As Grace-Marie points out, this would create a new distortion by
allowing the deduction only on immediate health care spending (whether
for insurance or care).  We would lose that incentive to save up
toward our older, possibly less healthy, years. It shows what can
happen when policy makers forget to study their history.