Rep. Budd Issues Statement on Introduction of Supporting Health Reimbursement Accounts Bill

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 -- Rep. Ted Budd, R-North Carolina, issued the following statement:

Today, U.S. Representative Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced the Increasing Health Coverage through HRAs Act with Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA). This legislation codifies into law the Trump Administration's rule on Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs).

HRAs are special employer-based accounts that employers put tax-free funds into for their employees to use to cover medical expenses including out of pocket costs and anything that traditional insurance doesn't cover. The funds in these HRA accounts can be rolled over from year to year and for the first time in the history of these accounts, employees can use them to pay for premiums on the individual health insurance market.

Rep. Budd said in a statement:

"This legislation takes an important step forward in reversing the damage caused by Obamacare, which has become unaffordable for more and more Americans. In contrast to Obamacare's rigid and costly regulations have limited health care choices, HRAs increase health care choices for more Americans.

"In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services has said that within the next five years, the new HRA rule could incentivize as many as 800,000 businesses to provide health reimbursement accounts to their employees which would offer health care coverage to more than 11 million workers. It's time for Congress to make the Trump Administration's HRA rule permanent because all citizens of our great country deserve affordable health insurance options that are free from Obamacare's regulations."

Text of the bill can be found here. (https://budd.house.gov/UploadedFiles/The_Increasing_Health_Coverage_through_HRAs_Act.pdf)