[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1464-H1465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. FLEMING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. FLEMING. Madam Speaker, of this massive almost 3,000-page bill, 
there is not one thing that lowers cost; not one. A recent Heritage 
Foundation article focused on the fact that the health care system is 
fraught with perverse economic incentives that generate artificially 
high and rapidly increasing spending. This system does nothing to 
incentivize the doctor, the patient or the insurance company, let alone 
the Federal Government, to spend the health care dollars efficiently. 
However, I'm not suggesting that patients have to bear higher out-of-
pocket costs. By this, the doctor and the patient must be reengaged, 
however, with the cost of their care. And how can we do that?
  One amendment that we have tried to get into this bill a number of 
times and has failed is a robust system of health savings accounts for 
all. This way, we get to have our cake and eat it too. By that I mean 
that a portion of

[[Page H1465]]

the insurance premiums should be put into a special medical spending 
account for those on all government and private insurance programs who 
would, in turn, be able to use tax-free funds for discretionary health 
care purchases. This would be the first step in turning patients into 
savvy health care consumers. As they save money for themselves, they 
will save it for the health care system at large, thus bending the cost 
curve downward.

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