Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, is lauding three health care-related bills she supported in votes with some bipartisan support that would delay or remove taxes while expanding the role of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) in the nation’s health system.
Herrera Beutler announced the bills passed by significant margins and almost complete Republican approval late last month. A release from her office stated the votes “helped advance multiple legislative solutions to lower health care costs” while giving Southwest Washington residents more options.
Two bills Herrera Beutler voted for would help lower costs through tax postponement or outright repeal, according to the release.
One bill does away with a 2.3 percent tax on medical products such as pacemakers and X-ray machines, with the release calling it a “hidden” tax as “patients can’t see if and how these costs are passed on to them.”
Another bill delays the implementation of a tax on health insurers scheduled to go into effect next year, postponing the tax to 2021. That bill and a third also have language regarding HSAs, changing a handful of rules in order to increase options and provide more flexibility, according to the release.
One of those bills would allow for HSAs to be used for over-the-counter drugs and menstrual care products, something under current law is only allowed for prescriptions and insulin, according to a Congressional summary. Information from the House Ways and Means Committee also noted the bill would allow flexibility for HSAs to be used for some services from retail or on-site clinics and direct primary care physicians as well as allowing contributions into the account if a spouse has a Flexible Spending Arrangement, in certain cases.
The other bill allows for more people to qualify to pay into an HSA while “dramatically” increasing the amount that can be saved tax free, according to the Ways and Means information. It also allows for FSA funds to be rolled over into the following year as well as allowing access to individuals for “catastrophic” plans with lower premiums while allowing the higher deductibles in those plans eligible for an HSA.
Herrera Beutler’s release touted the benefits of the legislation, now in the Senate for consideration, stating that “Southwest Washington residents benefit from choices.” It added that research showed HSA users spent less on health care with 22.5 million Americans using the accounts.
“Southwest Washington residents continue to experience higher costs in order to access treatment and doctors they need — but I won’t resign to that as the status-quo,” Herrera Beutler said in the release. “By providing relief from the health taxes that get passed along to consumers and boosting incredibly popular Health Savings Accounts that have proven to save families money, the solutions I supported would put more money back in the wallets of Southwest Washington residents.”
