Max Baucus: “this is not wise. I do not think we should adopt this amendment. What does the amendment do? Basically it would require…”

“this is not wise. I do not think we should adopt this amendment. What does the amendment do? Basically it would require at least 34 States would have to resign their successful Children's Health Insurance Programs in ways that force children into potentially inferior coverage; that is, their health insurance coverage would be worse than under SCHIP. Why? Because sometimes private health insurance requires deductibles or limits hospital stays, may prevent insulin from being available for diabetes. It forces premium assistance. It forces people into coverage they may not want. I don't think we want to do that. Second, it would force children to take the premium assistance to purchase HSAs. That is not a good idea. HSAs work better for wealthier Americans, healthier Americans. We are talking about low-income kids, and they have to spend a lot of money on high-deductible HSAs. I don't think it is a good thing to do. We are here to help kids. We are not here to force kids into private coverage plans and use their premium assistance to buy HSAs. I urge the amendment not be agreed to.”