Even In A Time Of Impeachment, Health Care Is On The Agenda

By: J. Kevin A. McKechnie | Originally posted on The Hill

As we begin 2020, the impeachment cloud continues to hang over Washington. The House vote and the president’s defiant response has dominated the headlines, and that won’t change in the new year with the prospect of a likely Senate trial in the next few weeks. The cloud of controversy threatens to keep members of Congress from working on many of the nation’s problems they were hired to solve.

There is one issue, however, that lawmakers can’t avoid during this impeachment fight — health care. With every American experiencing higher deductibles and higher out-of-pocket costs, polls consistently show health care remains the first or second most important issue to voters. Any lawmaker that ignores the issue does so at their peril.

So it should not come as a surprise that both the House and the Senate just approved long-awaited reforms like the end of the Cadillac tax on high-cost health plans, as well as the repeal of two other taxes that make health coverage even more expensive. In the New Year, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are also expected to pursue additional measures to end surprise billing, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and enhance drug price transparency. They should not stop there.

2020 is the moment for Congress to take the bold step of expanding Americans’ access to Health Savings Accounts. There are now 30 million “HSAs” in the U.S. covering millions of families, and the number of people signing up for these tax-free accounts grows 20- to 30-percent every year.

Why are more Americans turning to HSAs? The answer is because…

Full original post available at https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/476585-even-in-a-time-of-impeachment-health-care-is-on-the-agenda

J. Kevin A. McKechnie is the executive director of the Health Savings Account Council and senior vice president for the Office of Insurance Advocacy at the American Bankers Association.