Don Nickles: “So we would allow small businesses the right to offer to their employees medical savings accounts as an option--not a…”

“So we would allow small businesses the right to offer to their employees medical savings accounts as an option--not a mandate, as an option--so they could use that money. It would be their money. People are a lot more frugal with their own money than they are with Government money or they are with their employer's money. So there will be savings involved. That is positive. That is good. What is Senator Kennedy afraid of, that this is going to work? I have heard him say something about, well, this would be utilized by the wealthy and the healthy. I disagree with that. We had hearings and listened to people, school teachers and others, who really like this opportunity. The States have given them a small tax advantage. What we would do on the Federal level is allow them to have medical savings accounts, treat it somewhat like an individual retirement account, and if they do not use it for health care purposes, they could use it for long-term health care purposes. If they do not use it today, they would accumulate it. They do not have to use it or lose it. So people would have an incentive not to run up their medical expenses. They could save it and use it, if not this year, next year. They could save it for a real problem in the future or perhaps save it for dental care that their health care did not cover. Or maybe they could use it for long-term health care, which most people in this country do not save for, which makes eminent good sense.…”