Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense Arrangement Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HERN. Mr. Chairman, as a small business owner and job creator for over the past 35 years, I offered healthcare plans to my employees and worked with them to find the best coverage for their families. I have seen firsthand the impact of increasing healthcare, and I have also done the burdensome paperwork to manage the plans on the back end.

I came to Congress 4 years ago, and the reason I came was because of the burden that this Congress over the years has put on job creators across America.

The small business healthcare package being debated today helps simplify healthcare and empower people in one of their most personal decisions, their healthcare.

I find it ironic that the gentleman across the aisle identifies the ACA requirements as junk because the CHOICE Arrangement Act follows the ACA guidelines. It encourages people to go out and shop. It follows the rules on preexisting conditions.

But what we really know, what they don't like about this is it doesn't go in the direction they want to go, which is to federalize all healthcare. That has been the mission since day one, for the government to run your healthcare. That just simply won't work.

I am proud that this package includes my bill, the CHOICE Arrangement Act, which allows employees to use money from their employer to buy the healthcare plan that works best for them.

Four years ago, the Trump administration finalized a rule to create CHOICE accounts, allowing businesses to reimburse their employees for the cost of the health insurance plan of their choosing. CHOICE accounts put individuals--individuals, not the Federal Government--in the driver's seat when it comes to picking their healthcare plan and lets their employer financially support their decision.

This bill would codify that rule into law, benefiting everyone and, overall, increasing the amount of people who have health insurance. You would think that would be a good thing, but apparently not with my Democratic colleagues.

Every patient's health needs are unique, and every person's situation is different. This is why it is so important to expand and protect the different options available to employers to provide health benefits in different ways.

I am happy to see Congress address the burdens small businesses face when providing healthcare benefits to their employees. This bill fulfills part of a promise that the Republican Party has made to America, to bring back true choice to American healthcare by enabling small businesses to provide the best care for their employees.

As the chairman said, time and time again, in hearings that we have been at across America talking to people that are experiencing the burdens that come out of this Congress, it is amazing to me that the Democrats who are businesspeople that are on the committee, when talking without their talking points identify-- The CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HERN.--businesses as people who apparently abuse their employees and the employees continue to come to work. That is the irony of this. They have no idea what they are talking about.

The reality is there are other job openings for everybody to go to, and yet, people continue to work. The only way you are prosperous in America and run a great business is if you take care of your people. That is it. That is all you have. That is what differentiates you in the world of a free market. I would hope that my Democratic colleagues would recognize that and give a little credit to the people who are out there putting their money and their risk on the line.

In addition to my bill, this small business package includes legislation from my colleagues Bob Good, Claudia Tenney and Tim Walberg that will provide small businesses access to the association health plans to build their negotiating power, stop-loss insurance to protect from catastrophic losses, and reporting from Treasury to update small business owners on new healthcare plans.

Small businesses make up the foundation of the American economy and have true incentives, moral and financial, to pay to keep Americans healthy. We should enable them to do so. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source