Mike Levin: “I support Kennedy-Kassebaum. This bill before us now is not Kennedy-Kassebaum-plus, it is Kennedy-Kassebaum-minus. In a…”

“I support Kennedy-Kassebaum. This bill before us now is not Kennedy-Kassebaum-plus, it is Kennedy-Kassebaum-minus. In a way, this bill is the story of this session so far. When the Republicans have a chance to do something good, they ruin it by overreaching. They simply cannot resist excess, and they cannot resist turning a bipartisan bill, which Kennedy-Kassebaum is, into a partisan one. Mr. Speaker, why is this Kennedy-Kassebaum-minus? I think it is very clear, when someone who is covered by group insurance leaves and must have individual insurance, there is going to be less protection for affordability under the bill we have here than Kennedy-Kassebaum, period. It is likely that the individual will pay more. Second, they have included MSA's, which are likely to draw the healthiest away and hurt everybody else in terms of premiums. Let me just say one thing about MSA's. They are really a potential tax shelter for wealthy people, because if you put money into them, you do not pay Social Security taxes. You indefinitely defer income taxes. And if you keep them until death, you avoid estate taxes. IRA's are structured to avoid that kind of sheltering. What these MSA's, as the Republicans here in the House, once again going to an extreme, what they have done is to promote tax sheltering for very wealthy families.”