A lawmaker has brought back a frequently introduced bill that could help workers use their health savings accounts to pay for direct primary care — and this time it might have a decent chance to become law.
Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., has introduced a version of the Primary Care Enhancement Act for the 119th Congress.
Workers can already use their HSAs to pay fees for specific doctors’ services. The new bill would let HSA holders get access to new types of medical practices that cut out insurers and help physicians even out cash flow. The practices charge what amount to pay for monthly, quarterly or annual membership dues.
The bill would let workers use HSA money to pay these periodic fees needed to pay for a membership in a “concierge” medical practice patient group or other direct-pay medical practice patient group.
The new version of the bill is the latest in a long line of bills that Smucker and colleagues have been introducing since 2015. But the bill now appears to have a stronger chance to move forward.
Like the earlier versions, the new version has a bipartisan list of cosponsors, with two Republicans and three Democrats giving it their support.
The bill also has the backing of two groups that have been popular with Republicans, Americans for Prosperity and the Council for Affordable Health Coverage, and a group that has been popular with centrists Democrats, Purchasers Business Group on Health.
But the most important reason for thinking the bill could advance is in the Senate: The lead sponsor of the Senate companion bill to the House direct primary care bills has always been Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
Cassidy is now chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, one of the committees with jurisdiction over health care and health insurance bills in the Senate.
The bill is one of many measures related to health savings accounts and other forms of benefits accounts that may get a fresh look now that Trump has returned to the White House.
Republicans have frequently talked about using new forms of health accounts as a way to move the country away from the current Affordable Care Act framework. The first Trump administration included HSA program expansion in a health insurance system change package it unveiled in 2017.
Some Democrats in Washington have been strong supporters of HSAs and similar programs, but many Democrats have questioned whether the benefits of the programs justify the lost tax revenue.
One concern has been that health accounts may do more to help high-income people reduce taxes than to help low-income or moderate-income people get more access to care.