Thursday, December 16, 2004
President Bush on HSAs: "I just signed up for one two days ago"
["Bush's Closing Remarks at Economy Summit," Federal News Service, The Los Angeles Times, 16 December 2004.]
The White House economic summit recently wrapped up, and consumer driven health care reform was one of the main topics. President Bush made the following remarks at the close of the summit:
Chris Krupinski owns an art and design studio in Fairfax. I talked to her last night. She's pretty enthusiastic about HSAs. If you didn't hear her talk, you should have. First of all, she is a -- she went to insurance agent after insurance agent after insurance agent trying to find something she could afford, and eventually she was paying $900 a month for insurance for she and her family. Then she heard about health savings accounts, innovative ways for people to cover catastrophic care for their family, at the same time manage the cash flow needs, their own cash flow needs so they can provide primary care as well. Now she pays $340 a month for a high-deductible plan and she puts $290 a month into her HSA; puts her own money in, money that'll earn interest tax-free, money she can take out tax-free, money -- it's her own money. And she's saving money for her family at the same time; in other words, this innovative plan enables her to control her own destiny when it comes to health care, and at the same time provides her comfort in knowing that if there is a catastrophe, the health care insurance will cover it for she and her family. She's paying less overall, she chooses her own doctor, she saves her own money, and she makes the health care decisions.
Fast-rising medical costs are a drag on this economy, and so there are some things we need to do together. One is expand health savings accounts. Two, promote association health care plans. Congress needs to allow small businesses to pool risk. Three, pass medical liability reform. Four, continue to expand information technology throughout the health care system.
Five, move -- move generic drugs faster to the market.
In all we do -- in all we do to reform health care, we've got to make sure the decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by bureaucrats in our nation's capital.
["Bush's Closing Remarks at Economy Summit," Federal News Service, The Los Angeles Times, 16 December 2004.]
The White House economic summit recently wrapped up, and consumer driven health care reform was one of the main topics. President Bush made the following remarks at the close of the summit:
Chris Krupinski owns an art and design studio in Fairfax. I talked to her last night. She's pretty enthusiastic about HSAs. If you didn't hear her talk, you should have. First of all, she is a -- she went to insurance agent after insurance agent after insurance agent trying to find something she could afford, and eventually she was paying $900 a month for insurance for she and her family. Then she heard about health savings accounts, innovative ways for people to cover catastrophic care for their family, at the same time manage the cash flow needs, their own cash flow needs so they can provide primary care as well. Now she pays $340 a month for a high-deductible plan and she puts $290 a month into her HSA; puts her own money in, money that'll earn interest tax-free, money she can take out tax-free, money -- it's her own money. And she's saving money for her family at the same time; in other words, this innovative plan enables her to control her own destiny when it comes to health care, and at the same time provides her comfort in knowing that if there is a catastrophe, the health care insurance will cover it for she and her family. She's paying less overall, she chooses her own doctor, she saves her own money, and she makes the health care decisions.
Fast-rising medical costs are a drag on this economy, and so there are some things we need to do together. One is expand health savings accounts. Two, promote association health care plans. Congress needs to allow small businesses to pool risk. Three, pass medical liability reform. Four, continue to expand information technology throughout the health care system.
Five, move -- move generic drugs faster to the market.
In all we do -- in all we do to reform health care, we've got to make sure the decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by bureaucrats in our nation's capital.
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