Frank Pallone: “I heard what Speaker Gingrich said about the health care reform bill. My concern is that what he mentioned really is…”

“I heard what Speaker Gingrich said about the health care reform bill. My concern is that what he mentioned really is very far from the truth. The fact of the matter is the Democrats and Republicans want to see a bill passed that would increase portability and eliminate preeexisting conditions as a factor. But the Republican leadership has insisted on the poison pill of MSA's medical savings accounts. The effect of including medical savings accounts in this legislation is basically to drive up the cost of insurance for the average person. Instead of expanding the opportunities of health care coverage and eliminating the ranks of the uninsured, by including medical savings accounts only the healthy and the wealthy will be able to take advantage of that. The cost for the average person of health insurance will go up. Instead of having more people covered by health insurance, the effect is that there will be less and less people covered by health insurance because they will not be able to afford the higher premiums. The poison pill in MSA's is still there. The suggestion by the Speaker that somehow this legislation, if it includes the MSA's is going to solve the health care problem, is not true.”