STARK OPENING REMARKS  AT HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS MARKUP

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Pete Stark (D-CA), Ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, delivered the following opening remarks at today's markup of HR 6134:

“Mr. Chairman, the bill before us today fits nicely with the “faith-based” initiative we’ve been hearing so much about these past few years and highlights very clearly why we need a new direction for America.

“The title of the bill sums up the entire Republican health agenda: you’d better “HOPE” you don’t get sick, because you won’t be able to afford medical care!

“More and more of us will have to depend on the charity of strangers if HSAs take off.

“I’m not sure what the big rush is to pass this bill.  Why are we dedicating the few remaining hours of this Congress on a bill that does little more than provide a new billion-dollar tax shelter for the wealthy?

“Let’s be clear that that’s all we’re doing here today.  The Joint Committee on Taxation says this bill says it will have a negligible effect on both the number of people with HSAs, and the number of uninsured.  So that means we’re essentially spending a billion dollars on people who already have an HSA.

“These people don’t need our help.  A recent study by GAO found that the average AGI of tax filers who contributed to an HSA in 2004 was $133,000, compared to $51,000 for all tax filers under age 65.

“Isn’t there something better we can spend a billion dollars on?

“For example, we could assure that low income children don’t lose their health insurance coverage through the CHIP program next month?  More than 600,000 kids from working families may become uninsured if Congress doesn’t step in to help this week.  Helping them this year would cost less than the total cost of this bill.  Shouldn’t keeping these children insured be our priority?

“What about helping seniors who will face higher drug premiums because they failed to enroll in the confusing new Medicare prescription drug program last year?  They shouldn’t be penalized for the inadequacies of Congress or miscommunications of the Administration.  Why isn’t protecting these seniors a priority during these last few days?

“Health care is certainly an issue we should be addressing in Congress.  But make no mistake, HSAs are not health policy, they are tax policy.  Attempts to make HSAs even more attractive – like the one we have before us today – threaten traditional insurance coverage and shift more of the cost burden for health care to workers.  We should not be wasting precious time on an expensive niche policy that benefits a few, at the expense of everyone else.“

-30-