[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 88 (Friday, June 14, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S6259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MEDICAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I think that the senior Senator from Texas 
articulated the MSA environment that we are in right now with the 
health bill in a very accurate way. But I believe that he overlooked 
one thing. I agree with him that we have a system that has a built-in 
disincentive to save or to get services, medical services and health 
care services, that would be less expensive. I am not any different 
than anyone else. I suggest that you are probably the same way, Mr. 
President. Once you pay your deductible and you are in the course of a 
year, you are going to go out and get any kind of health services that 
you need if it does not cost you anything. So you have something built 
into the system.
  I cannot think of any other service or product in America where you 
would have a system built in that encourages you to pay more. I have 
heard some percentages of savings ranging between 40 and 60 percent if 
we could have MSA's.
  But the one thing the Senator from Texas did not mention was that it 
also provides another benefit to those individuals because, if someone 
is between jobs or if someone gets fired from a job, this offers 
portability. It is a fund that can be drawn upon, or, if there is a 
catastrophic illness, this can be used for that. It is just beyond me. 
I have not been able to think of one logical argument that the Senator 
from Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy, had against MSA's. I could see 
perhaps some doctors objecting to it because, obviously, people are 
going to be more cost conscious and are not going to be getting 
services they do not need. Ironically, though, I am proud of the 
medical community. I have yet to have one doctor tell me that he did 
not want to have MSA's. They are not opposing it even though they are 
the only group I could think of who possibly would lose some financial 
advantage by a system going in place.
  So I am hoping that we will be able to get this. I cannot believe 
that our entire health program is being held hostage just because of 
the medical savings account, something that benefits everyone--all 
Americans, young, old, rich, poor--everyone equally.

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