[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 48 (Monday, March 23, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H1835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 EMPOWERING PATIENTS WITH FSAs AND HSAs

  (Mr. PAULSEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, today is the fifth anniversary of the 
President's new health care law, and it is apparent that the law has 
made it much more difficult for hardworking Americans to have 
flexibility with their own health care choices.
  For instance, health care savings accounts and flexible savings 
accounts put power in the hands of patients by letting them make their 
own decisions when it comes to their own care.
  But the new health care law actually prohibits someone from using 
their own money in their own health care savings account or flexible 
spending account to purchase simple over-the-counter medications like 
Advil or Claritin unless they first get a doctor's prescription. This 
makes absolutely no sense.
  Today, I am introducing the Family Health Care Flexibility Act that 
will restore the ability of parents to take control of their own 
decisions when it comes to the care of their children in purchasing 
over-the-counter medications without a doctor's prescription.
  Mr. Speaker, instead of a top-down, one-size-fits-all centralized 
health care system, we need solutions that provide patients with 
greater value, more choices, and lower costs.

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