[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MEDICAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Christensen] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  (Mr. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, despite liberal attempts to hide the 
truth, the word is out.
  The American people have learned that our precious Medicare system is 
going broke.
  It is clear that unless important actions are taken, Medicare will be 
belly-up in the year 2002.
  We are not going to let that happen.
  We are going to save Medicare and strengthen it--giving our seniors 
more options and more choices.
  One option we should give seniors is a Medical Savings Account.
  A Medicare MSA would allow seniors to join a private heath plan that 
would pay all expenses above a set level, and allow seniors to deposit 
their Medicare dollars in a personal medical savings account to be used 
to pay expenses below that level.
  At the end of the year, seniors choosing this option could withdraw 
any unspent money left in the MSA or buy insurance coverage for 
prescription drugs or allow the money to grow with interest to pay 
future medical bills. It is their choice.
  Let us hope the liberals choose to abandon their Medi-scare tactics 
and join us in saving Medicare by giving seniors more choices like 
Medical Savings Accounts.


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