[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 27283]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     EMPOWER HEALTH CARE CONSUMERS

  (Mr. ROYCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, currently employers and employees can set 
aside pre-tax money that can be used for out-of-pocket health care 
expenses and co-payments and deductibles, and these are called flexible 
spending accounts. There is a problem in the current law, Mr. Speaker, 
and that is, if our constituents use these accounts and they do not 
completely use them up at the end of the year, that money reverts to 
the employer.
  I have a bill, H.R. 3034, that would fix this use-it-or-lose-it 
provision and would allow this to be rolled over from year to year; and 
basically under my legislation, which I hope the House will pass, 
$3,000 annually can be put into these accounts. This would help 
portability. In other words, these accounts can go from job to job as 
employees change jobs. It would boost consumer choice because one would 
not be locked into the current health insurance plan. They could use 
this money at their own discretion. It would help the doctor-patient 
relationship by empowering consumers to make their own decisions about 
their own health care needs, and it would help control health insurance 
costs.
  I hope all of my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, will support this 
legislation.

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