[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15472]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              ADDRESSING THE NATION'S HEALTH CARE PROBLEMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, according to a poll taken just this month 
in June 2003 by the Winston Group, nearly 50 percent of Americans 
believe that the uninsured and the high cost of health insurance are 
one of the biggest problems facing our country today. With skyrocketing 
health costs and a recent Census Bureau figure showing that 41.2 
million Americans lack health insurance coverage, this information does 
not come as a surprise.
  There are, Mr. Speaker, some free market and tax incentive 
initiatives that could increase health care coverage for a significant 
segment of the population, making this health care more available and 
less expensive. I am confident that there is legislation that has been 
introduced, and indeed the House passed overwhelmingly just a few hours 
ago, H.R. 660, that will address some of the root causes of these 
serious problems.
  There is a bill, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1236, the Securing Access, Value, 
and Equality Health Care Act, that seeks to end the tax discrimination 
that makes it difficult for low-income families and individuals to 
purchase non-employer provided health insurance. H.R. 1236 does away 
with this discrimination by making prepayable, refundable tax credits 
available to all Americans for the purchase of health insurance 
regardless of their employer or their employment status.

                              {time}  1830

  Under this bill, an individual could claim up to a $1,000 tax credit, 
$2,000 per married couple, and $500 per child to a maximum of $3,000 
per family. By giving low-income individuals and families the 
purchasing power to meet their health insurance needs, the number of 
Americans without health insurance could be dramatically reduced.
  Another bill, H.R. 2114, a bill that I introduced, a bill that enjoys 
bipartisan support, the Health Access and Flexibility Act, would 
increase access to medical savings accounts to all Americans and grant 
States the flexibility to provide Medicaid and Children's Health 
Insurance Program recipients health care coverage under a medical 
savings account model. The bill removes the cap on medical savings 
accounts and allows MSA holders to fully fund their accounts.
  Additionally, the bill would give States the ability to create 
medical savings-like accounts for Medicaid or CHIP recipients, and we 
have called these Medical Freedom Accounts.
  By providing Americans with incentives to hold down medical spending 
through an MSA and giving them more flexibility on how to spend their 
own money on medical costs, the cost of health care can be contained 
and individuals will be able to achieve a higher quality of health 
outcomes.
  And, Mr. Speaker, just today just a few hours ago, H.R. 660 passed 
this House, the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2003, which 
allowed the establishment of association health plans. This bill allows 
businesses to pool their employees with other businesses that are part 
of the bona fide trade or business association to purchase employer-
based health insurance. This gives small businesses this option, and 
this will be a powerful tool that will drive down the cost of employer-
based health insurance making health insurance more affordable for 
small businesses and coverage more available to employees. With the 
passage of this bill, Mr. Speaker, we are one step closer to providing 
much needed relief to the uninsured.
  Mr. Speaker, unfortunately there is not a one-size-fits-all solution 
to address the increasing cost of health insurance and the decreasing 
access to health insurance; but, Mr. Speaker it is my hope that this 
House can continue to work to improve the health and well-being of all 
Americans by taking up these last two measures and provide a robust 
solution to our Nation's health care problems.

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