Gary Hart: “I rise in support of the flexible spending arrangements. I am often baffled in this House when I have the opportunity to…”

“I rise in support of the flexible spending arrangements. I am often baffled in this House when I have the opportunity to listen to the debate. We are talking about policy that will be far-reaching. Flexible spending accounts, flexible arrangements, medical savings accounts, health savings accounts are all plans that give flexibility and discretion to employers and employees. They give power, economic power, to employers and employees. This is a much larger issue than how much this may cost this year because, ultimately, it will save the government money. Ultimately, it will save individuals money. And, ultimately, it will save employers money which, in the long run, will mean that more people will be likely to access health care through their employer. That will, by the way, save the government some money. One of the first things I heard about as a candidate for Congress was from one of the employers in one of the communities I represent. And he said to me, I want you to pay close attention to the law around medical savings accounts, flexible spending arrangements, the kinds of things that are supposed to be flexible for benefits for employees to give them economic power, but are not, because there are too many limits on them. Today's bill removes one of those limits, or at least significantly reduces it, and that is this perverse incentive to quickly spend any of the unused money in the flexible spending arrangement, the use-it-or-lose-it rule.”