John Moolenaar: “First, I want to thank Chairman Brady of the House Committee on Ways and Means for his leadership of the committee, and…”

“First, I want to thank Chairman Brady of the House Committee on Ways and Means for his leadership of the committee, and also Mr. Roskam and Mr. Thompson for their support here on the floor today. I also want to thank Congressman Raul Ruiz for cosponsoring this legislation and making it bipartisan. This legislation before us today, H.R. 1476, will improve access to health savings accounts for Native Americans who choose to receive care at Indian Health Service facilities by ending an unnecessary penalty against them. Mr. Speaker, if you or I were to use a health savings account, we would be able to immediately make a contribution to it the day after you receive care at a doctor's office. There is no prohibition on making those contributions. However, right now, Native Americans across the country, including my constituents, cannot do the same thing if they receive treatment from a doctor at the Indian Health Service. Instead, they are prohibited from immediately saving the money they earned and must wait for 3 months before they can make another contribution into the personal account they use to provide for their health and that of their family. This makes no sense. Instead, this commonsense legislation eliminates the problem. If this bill becomes law, Native Americans will no longer have to wait 3 months. They will be able to receive treatment from Indian Health Service doctors near them and save money in their HSAs whenever they want.…”