U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) announced today that he is supporting the Family and Retirement Health Investment Act of 2011, a bill that would decrease the cost of providing health insurance and assist businesses and families seeking to make wiser and more affordable health-care choices.

“We have the highest-quality health-care system in the world, but most of us can agree that the cost of health-care to the consumer is much too high and our system must be reformed,” Luetkemeyer said. “I will continue to support efforts and legislation that will help, not hurt, our small businesses, seniors and young people when it comes to expanding health-care options and lowering the costs of insurance.”

The Family and Retirement Health Investment Act would simplify and expand the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) for workers and retirees and decrease the cost of health insurance, increase coverage and encourage savings for retirement health-care expenses. Studies suggest that health-care costs will increase by 8 percent this year, and many families and small businesses have been combating the rising costs of health-care by contributing to consumer driven products like HSAs and FSAs. Small businesses find that they are able to offer affordable health-care insurance to their employees for the first time by utilizing HSAs and FSAs. Some 33 million Americans are in families that have flexible-spending accounts, which are funded through payroll deductions and allow consumers to pay for health expenses with tax-free dollars. Ten million Americans now are enrolled in HSAs.

 This legislation would enact commonsense reforms to make HSAs and FSAs easier to use for families and small businesses by allowing a married couple to make catch-up contributions to the same HSA; removing the onerous new restrictions on the use of HSA and FSA dollars for the purchase of over-the-counter drugs; allowing individuals to roll-over up to $500 from their FSA accounts; clarifying the use of prescription drugs as preventive care that will not be subject to an HSA-eligible plan deductible; reauthorizing the use of Medicaid health opportunity accounts; promoting wellness by expanding the definition of qualified medical expenses to encourage more exercise and better diet; allowing seniors enrolled in Medicare Part A to continue contributing to their HSAs; and allowing for the purchase of low-premium health insurance and long-term care insurance with HSA dollars.

Luetkemeyer is also a cosponsor of H.R. 605, the Patients Freedom to Choose Act, a bill that would repeal two provisions included in the health-care bill. A little-noticed measure in the Democrats’ health-care bill prohibits the purchase of over-the-counter medications, such as cold and flu medicine, pain relievers and baby ointments, from HSAs, FSAs and similar accounts as of Jan. 1, 2011, unless it's accompanied by a doctor's prescription. The result is that Americans are visiting their doctors before making a trip to the drugstore, hoping their physician will help them reap the tax-free savings by writing the prescription. The new requirements create not only an added burden for doctors, but also new complications for consumers, retailers and pharmacies, driving up the cost of health care as opposed to reducing it. Another measure limits the amount consumers can save in FSAs to $2,500 a year, starting in 2013. The idea to limit tax breaks on over-the-counter drugs was supposed to be a minor tweak to raise revenue for the health-care bill. It is estimated that these two provisions will cost families over $5 billion dollars.

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