[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5566]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF MEDICARE 
                           MODERNIZATION ACT

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to talk on the Medicare 
Modernization Act. Tax-free health savings accounts that are 
accumulative allows the individual to pick up basic health care costs 
and shop around for quality and service, one of the great benefits of 
the Medicare Modernization Act. The other thing is then moving 
individuals into catastrophic health insurance plans which will be, 
obviously, in essence a lot lower than health care costs today. What 
people fear is the ability to lose their life savings on catastrophic 
illnesses. By having the catastrophic health insurance account, that 
will not occur and it will be at a cost that people can assume. But the 
only way we are going to bring down health care costs in America is to 
make sure that the consumer is involved in choosing their services 
based upon quality and service. No middlemen, the consumer. That is the 
benefit of the health savings account. The Medicare Modernization Act 
was real reform, and I am proud to have supported it.

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