Our Personal Option Health Care Vision for Lawmakers
How lawmakers can help give Americans a Personal Option in health care
Americans aren’t looking for a government takeover of health care, they want to keep what works and fix what’s broken. A Personal Option offers a robust menu of policy reforms that will give Americans more choice and control over their own health care, saving them money while expanding access to the doctors they want to see.
Due to current federal laws, only 10% of Americans can take advantage of Health Savings Accounts. I’m fighting to ensure the American people who want a HSA have access to one. We need a Personal Option.
Rep. Cory Mills (Florida’s 7th District)
More innovation in healthcare is pivotal to keeping Floridians healthy. This is why I support solutions in the Personal Option, including expanded HSAs, telehealth opportunities—especially in our rural communities—and direct primary care agreements.
Rep. Kat Cammack (Florida’s 3rd District)
Telehealth is expanding and transforming the Healthcare industry. We need more innovative solutions to our healthcare system like the Personal Option.
Rep. Greg Steube (Florida’s 17th District)
Giving the American people more choices in their healthcare—that’s what we’re talking about with the Personal Option.
Rep. Bill Johnson (Ohio’s 6th District)
70% of Americans want a Personal Option in health care that makes it easier for them to receive care through telehealth.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania’s 1st District)
I think the Personal Option is right on. It really is about personal choice, as opposed to government running healthcare.
Rep. Lloyd Smucker (Pennsylvania’s 11th District)
The Personal Option is spot on with so many of the things that we are talking about on our Healthy Futures Task Force.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (Ohio’s 2nd District)
10 actions lawmakers can take to advance a Personal Option in health care
Across the nation, principled state and federal lawmakers are working to pass components of a “personal option” approach to health reform. These include proven reforms such as expanding access to tax-free health savings accounts, repealing certificate-of-need laws, increasing telehealth access, creating affordable insurance options, and promoting price transparency. These reforms, and their sponsors, deserve our support.
Personal Option enables lawmakers to:
Give patients more control of their health care dollars
Let every American open a tax-free health savings account, a powerful tool that saves you money by enabling you to pay and save for health care, tax-free, by repealing the legal requirement that HSA owners must have a high-deductible health plan
- Enact the Health Care Fairness for All Act (H.R.3129) by Congressman Pete Sessions
- Enact the Healthcare Freedom Act (H.R.1769) by Representative Chip Roy
Make tax-free health savings accounts even better by increasing how much you can save in your HSA and what you can spend the money on
- Enact the HSA Modernization Act (H.R.5687) by Representative Beth Van Duyne
- Enact the Bipartisan HSA Improvement Act (H.R.5688) by Representative Lloyd Smucker
- Enact the Health Savings Act (S.1158, H.R.2959) by Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Jake LaTurner
Allow every employee use tax-free money from their employer to buy personally tailored, portable health insurance that stays with them from job to job
- Enact the CHOICE Arrangement Act (H.R.3799) by Representative Kevin Hern
Give patients direct access to doctors
Protect patients’ freedom to use direct primary care, which lets you pay a flat monthly subscription for access to your most trusted doctors and to deep drug discounts
- Enact the bipartisan Primary Care Enhancement Act (S.628, H.R.3029) by Senator Bill Cassidy and Representative Lloyd Smucker
Expand telehealth access
Unleash a digital health revolution by allowing patients to share medical information with trusted doctors remotely in real time
- Enact the bipartisan CONNECT for Health Act (S.2016, H.R.4189) by Senator Brian Schatz and Representative Mike Thompson
- Enact the bipartisan Telehealth Expansion Act (H.R.1843) by Representative Michelle Steel
Ensure rural Americans can take advantage of telehealth
- Enact the bipartisan Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act (S.1636, H.R.3440) by Senator Joe Manchin and Representative Chris Pappas
Free up health facilities to expand and compete
Reduce prices by ending inflated and dishonest billing of Medicare by local hospital monopolies
- Enact the SITE Act (S.1869) by Senator Mike Braun
- Enact the FAIR Act (H.R.3417) by Representative Kevin Hern
Lift the federal moratorium on physician-owned hospitals
- Enact the Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act (S.470, H.R.977) by Senator James Lankford and Representative Michael Burgess
Repeal local certificate-of-need laws, which restrict competition and drive up costs for patients
5. Liberate doctors to deliver care
Encourage states to curb abusive hospital “non-compete” contracts, so doctors can choose the care setting that’s right for their patients
Encourage states to recognize the licenses of professionals from other states, so doctors and nurses can practice across state lines
Let doctors and nurses bill Medicare for care they deliver outside their home state
Allow internationally-trained physicians to treat Americans in remote and underserved areas and during a health emergency
Reduce prescription drugs costs
Streamline FDA drug approvals to give patients and doctors more options without reducing safety
- Enact the RESULTs Act (S.1712, H.R. 3532) by Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Chip Roy
- Enact the Promising Pathway Act (S.1906) by Senator Mike Braun
- Enact the Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act (S.2305) by Senator Mike Lee
Remove barriers to robust pharmaceutical competition and price transparency
Repeal harmful prescription drug price controls that drive up costs and stifle life-saving innovation
Expand affordable insurance options
Eliminate needless government insurance mandates, so it costs less, and consumers can buy only what they need, while protecting people with pre-existing conditions
- Enact the Health Care Fairness for All Act (H.R.3129) by Congressman Pete Sessions
Protect access to short term health insurance plans, which can be significantly more affordable than traditional plans
- Enact the Health Coverage Choice Act (H.R.76) by Representative Andy Biggs
Legalize association health plans, which let small businesses band together to buy affordable coverage for their employees
- Enact the Association Health Plans Act (H.R. 2868) by Representative Tim Walberg
Promote price transparency
Incentivize doctors and hospitals to publish, and compete on, their cash-pay prices
Arm patients to shop for value using such powerful tools as tax-free health savings accounts and direct primary care
Strengthen government safety nets to protect the most vulnerable
Give low-income families more choice and control
Allow low-income individuals to receive a portion of their existing Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidy as a cash deposit to a personally owned and portable Health Savings Account, at no cost to taxpayers
- Enact the ACCESS Act (H.R.5608) by Representatives Greg Steube and Kat Cammack
Let seniors choose the health insurance plan that works best for them, and let them contribute to Health Savings Accounts (currently prohibited)
Restore Medicaid to its original mission as a safety net for the truly vulnerable
Target federal Medicaid subsidies to adults who are disabled or poor and
Give states flexibility so they can target resources to those who need it
Restructure Medicaid to control costs, eliminate waste and protect taxpayers
Help people, not insurance companies
Reform government subsidies so money is controlled by individuals, rather than by third parties like insurers, employers and the government
- Enact the Health Care Fairness for All Act (H.R.3129) by Congressman Pete Sessions