[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 14 (Monday, April 9, 2007)]
[Page 406]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting on Health Savings Accounts

April 2, 2007

    The cornerstone of good health care policy is to make sure that 
patients and docs are in charge of medical decisions. And therefore, one 
of the objectives of this administration has been to encourage the 
expansion of products like health savings accounts. And today I have met 
with some small-business owners, some employees of companies that have 
provided health savings accounts for them.
    And I'm pleased to report that people have come to realize the 
benefits of health savings accounts, such as, one, health savings 
accounts are affordable for individuals and small businesses. In other 
words, if you're a small-business owner and you're worried about 
providing good health care for your employees, you ought to look into a 
health savings account as a way to provide that benefit to your 
employees.
    Secondly, health savings accounts enable a person to save, tax-free, 
for medical expenses. By making rational decisions about your life, 
you'll end up with more money in your health savings account, on a tax-
free basis.
    And thirdly, that savings account is something you can carry with 
you from job to job. A lot of people in America change jobs on a regular 
basis, and they are deeply concerned about whether or not they'll have a 
health care plan when they change jobs. And the health savings account 
enables you to carry your money that you've saved, on a tax-free basis, 
from one job to the next.
    You know, 2 years ago there was--about a million of our citizens had 
health savings accounts. And today, over 5 million of people have health 
savings accounts--or nearly 5 million people have health savings 
accounts. It's up--actually, you can see from the chart the growth--4.5 
million people. And that's a 43-percent increase, from last year to this 
year, in the number of people that are beginning to realize the benefits 
of health savings accounts.
    And interestingly enough, of those who purchased--of individuals who 
purchased health savings accounts, about 25 percent of them were 
uninsured. In other words, health savings accounts enable someone who is 
uninsured to realize the benefits of private insurance, and in an 
affordable way.
    I strongly believe that the United States Congress needs to 
strengthen health savings accounts, just like they need to make sure 
that the Tax Code treats every person in America fairly. And that's why 
I've suggested we change the Tax Code to enable the small-business 
owner, the self-employed, or the individual worker to be able to have 
more affordable insurance. There's a lot we can do together to empower 
the individual in this country to be in charge of his or her health care 
decisions.
    So I want to thank my fellow Americans for joining us. I really 
appreciated the discussion we had. We've got people from Minnesota and 
Texas and Georgia and Michigan. These are people who are beginning to 
realize the benefits of health savings, and I thank you for sharing your 
information with me. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:24 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of these remarks.