Michael Burgess: “It's interesting, perhaps the one thing that would provide the right impetus in the competition to hold down those costs…”

“It's interesting, perhaps the one thing that would provide the right impetus in the competition to hold down those costs we are not going to do, and that's the ability to buy across State lines. In the individual market, buying a policy for a family of four in New Jersey is $10,000 a year. Your State of Pennsylvania, $6,000 a year, my State of Texas, $5,000 a year. As long as people know what they are purchasing, I don't see why it is reasonable to restrict someone from having a policy that may be more affordable. My insurance premiums have decreased by about 50 percent over the last 2 years. Not because I am a Member of Congress and I get a special deal, but I said, you know what, I can no longer afford this high option PPO insurance that is available to us in Congress, so I have elected to go into what's called a high deductible health plan with a health savings account. I actually had one several years ago when I was in private practice. I liked it. I liked the fact that I was the one who got to choose which doctors and facilities I got to use. I didn't have to call 1-800-California to get an X-ray preapproved. I wrote the check and I controlled the money, and I made the decision about who I saw and when. So I have gone back to that type of policy, and I will tell you I am very satisfied. We have improved from the old medical savings account in 1986 to the Health Savings Account improvements that started in 2003 and continue to this day.”