Restoring Access to Medication and Improving Health Savings Act of 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Restoring Access to Medication and Improving Health Savings Act, bipartisan legislation to fix yet another provision within ObamaCare that defies all common sense.

I have to commend my colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins and Congressman Ron Kind, for coming together on this bipartisan legislation for the sake of getting good policy.

This legislation repeals an ObamaCare provision that prohibited Americans from using their pretax healthcare savings to purchase qualified over-the-counter medications. Over-the-counter treatments provide the first line of defense for minor ailments and illnesses. As a physician, I certainly know this well. Also, as a parent of two children, I know this quite well.

We all know, Mr. Speaker, concern over the rapidly escalating cost of health care is shared on a strongly bipartisan basis. On this point, I think we all can agree. In that same vein, ensuring Americans have access to the most appropriate care at the right time is a critical factor in curbing overutilization of healthcare services. In short, not every ailment or minor illness necessitates a trip to the doctor or emergency room.

My colleagues across the aisle, the architects of ObamaCare, have vastly underestimated the value in savings that over-the-counter treatment options provide each year to the U.S. healthcare system.

Access to over-the-counter treatments is estimated to save the U.S. healthcare system and consumers $102 billion, on average, each year in avoided clinical and prescription expenditures.

On average, physicians cite roughly 10 percent of office visits each year that could be avoided through appropriate use of over-the-counter treatment options.

In my home State of Louisiana, out-of-pocket expenditures for health care over the past 10 years has more than doubled, with the most recent annual statewide expenditure for medications, alone, totaling nearly $5 billion.

This is the right approach for protecting American families and seniors from some of the worst effects of ObamaCare.

I firmly believe allowing Americans to use their pretax dollars toward their out-of-pocket healthcare costs serves as a powerful tool to start really bending the healthcare cost curve in America. That is why I urge my colleagues to support this very sensible bipartisan legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source