Erik Paulsen: “I thank the chairwoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as an advocate for giving consumers more choice in healthcare and…”

“I thank the chairwoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as an advocate for giving consumers more choice in healthcare and lowering costs, I support this bill, which also gives more flexibility for those who have healthcare savings accounts, as well as some of the other provisions that were already just previously mentioned. I want to highlight my support for one of the provisions in this bill that will allow people to use their healthcare savings account to pay for direct primary care and those arrangements. The concept of direct primary care is simple, and it is supported by a lot of family doctors, a lot of primary care doctors. People pay a monthly fee to see their physician in this area anytime they choose, over the phone, through telemedicine, or in person, and then they get a whole host of services. It is really important for strengthening the doctor-patient relationship, and it means that more people will have access to primary care services instead of just going to the emergency room in order to get care. But, unfortunately, the IRS has stated that direct primary care arrangements are essentially health insurance, and they categorize them in this way so you cannot use your HSAs and those funds to pay for direct primary care. That is why Congressman Blumenauer and I authored legislation to fix this and to allow HSAs, health savings accounts, to be used for direct primary care, and I am pleased that it is included in this bill.…”