Medicare Rx Bill...
Since 1992 I have been very involved in the health care reform debates on Capitol Hill. Two coalitions I lead are dedicated to advancing reform proposals to bring affordable, competitive health coverage options to individuals and small businesses. The Archer MSA Coalition -- which includes the American Medical Association, the Hispanic Business Roundtable and 50 other organizations concerned about the cost and quality of health care - has been focused on making Medical Savings Account (MSAs), now referred to as Health Savings Accounts, universal (meaning all people and businesses can buy one) and permanent. The Coalition for Patient Choice also has worked on advancing universal MSAs, and is pushing for tax credits for individuals to purchase health coverage.
Years of hard work have paid off, and after many months of tedious negotiations, expanded and permanent MSAs (again, now named Health Savings Accounts or HSAs) are included within the final Medicare/Prescription Drug (Rx) package that the House and Senate will vote on, possibly by the end of the week.
WE Inc. asks you to take action on this final bill.
HSAs have been a "demonstration project" since 1996. Despite many restrictions that Congress put on them as part of the Health Insurance Portability Act (aka, Kassebaum-Kennedy) they are helping to insure the uninsured. According to a 2002 IRS report, 73% of people buying HSAs are the previously uninsured. Moreover, over $150 million has been saved by individuals for their long-term health care needs through MSA accounts.
People who had reached the end of their rope in finding health coverage, were glad they stumbled upon the MSA option. Kay Heine, a Wisconsin self-employed single mom with three children said: "If it wasn't for the medical savings account, I wouldn't be insured. It just wasn't something I could afford" in a Los Angeles Times article.
A May 2, 1996 Washington Post story recounted another MSA account holder story: "Mary Durbin hails her medical savings account as a godsend. Durbin, a 57-year-old audiovisual coordinator from Danville, Ohio, says the account helped cover bimonthly chemotherapy sessions and other medications at a cost to her of only $500 a year."
There are countless other success stories such as these. MSAs have been demonized as being for the "healthy and wealthy" but most of the MSA policyholders that I've spoken with or participated in press events with, do not fit this profile.
As you know, I've been harping on the Congress and the Administration to do something meaningful this year about the growing ranks of the uninsured and giving women business owners more affordable options in health coverage. MSA expansion and permanency was one of those key reforms.
The Medicare Rx bill also includes other important changes to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as well - namely, deductibles would be lowered and both the employer and the employee could both contribute to the HSA.
President Bush, Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL), Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), and House and Senate Medicare Rx conference House Chairmen Bill Thomas (R-CA) and Senate Chairmen Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have kept their doors open to women entrepreneurs and small businesses on this critical issue. I am grateful they included the HSA provision in this bill and fought to keep it as part of the final package.
I hope you will join me in contacting your U.S. Senators and U.S. House Member and urge them to pass the Medicare/Prescription Drug package. The Capitol Hill switchboard phone number is 202-224-3121. Please call today and urge that they vote "yes" on final passage on the bill.
