WASHINGTON, DC – An Ohio congressman has introduced a new health care bill that would help to solve the problems of price transparency and affordability.
The Patient Fairness Act (H.R.5566), introduced by Congressman Warren Davidson (R-OH), offers two significant improvements to the American health care landscape.
The first codifies President Trump’s executive order requiring hospitals to publicly report actual prices of numerous medical procedures.
Making hospital prices public would also make it easier for new health insurance companies to competitively enter the market.
This would bring refreshing transparency to a byzantine health care system that makes it hard for patients to make decisions and new insurers to compete.
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Congressman Davidson’s second solution to paying for health care comes in the form of expanding health savings accounts (HSAs).
Individuals or employers would now be able to put more pre-income tax dollars into an HSA. These could then be invested and grow tax-free, provided the funds are used to pay for health-related expenses.
Congressman Davidson’s reformed HSAs could be used to purchase insurance, pay for doctor visits, and pay for prescription medicines, to name just a few. Moreover, the requirement for a high-deductible insurance plan is removed so now truly anyone can have an HSA.
The Patient Fairness Act would also allow account holders to bequeath their accounts to relatives after their death, making it possible for more American families to create health care “trust funds” to help cover medical expenses.
Congressman Davidson explained: “Many of the health care bills currently circulating in Congress—especially Speaker Pelosi’s H.R. 3—would bring the American health care system more firmly under the control of government. My plan is to increase competition in the market and help Americans save for medical expenses without entangling the federal bureaucracy in personal health care decisions.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Florida Representatives Ted Yoho and Matt Gaetz.
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