Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX-26) joined colleagues from both chambers tonight as President George W. Bush presented his fourth State of the Union address. Rep. Burgess selected, from an array of topics covered by President Bush, to direct his remarks on health care: "I was pleased to hear that the President remains committed to America’s health care system. As President George W. Bush stated this evening, 'On the critical issue of health care, our goal is to ensure that Americans can choose and afford private health care coverage that best fits their individual needs.' I could not agree more. Over the past two decades I worked as a doctor in Lewisville. I witnessed the difficult situations stemming from rising health care costs and, in particular, the ever-increasing number of uninsured in America. During my first year in Congress, I brought my expertise in the medical field to the forefront of legislative discussions about revamping our health care system to address these issues. There is no doubt, that solving the problem of the uninsured is an urgent matter. According to the latest Census Bureau report, nearly 44 million Americans are without health coverage. This number has risen by 1.5 million people between 2001 and 2002. A majority of Americans receive their health coverage through their employer. Because of this fact, when Americans lose their jobs, they often lose the health care that comes along with that job. Congress has addressed this portability problem by creating Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs will allow individuals and families to carry their health coverage with them from job to job. And in the unfortunate instance that somebody should lose their job, they will continue to have the ability to pay for health care from their HSA. And tonight, President Bush took the bold, additional step of pushing to allow Americans to pay for premiums, on catastrophic health insurance, with pre-tax dollars. This initiative will be a major catalyst in the rapid development of HSAs Even if individuals remain employed, the rising cost of health care has undercut the guarantee that employers will actually provide coverage to employees at all. To address this concern, the House has already passed legislation, Association Health Plans (AHPs) that would give small businesses greater ability to cover their employees. AHPs would allow small businesses to band together with other small businesses to provide health insurance through the group insurance market. In addition to HSAs and AHPs, I was encouraged to hear President George Bush discuss health care tax credits. By creating fully refundable, health care tax credits, low-income individuals that have forgone health coverage because of cost considerations, will be able to purchase or pay for part of health insurance policy. Giving more Americans the purchasing power to obtain health insurance will help drive down the cost of insurance for all Americans as more insurance risk is spread across a greater pool of beneficiaries. Mark V. Pauly, Chairman of Health Care Systems Department at the Wharton School, estimates that a proposal that gives American's tax credits to purchase health insurance could reduce the number of Americans without health coverage by 50 to 80 percent. This would be a win-win situation for both providers and patients, and that is exactly what I seek. With the President's agenda clear, I look forward to championing these health care issues through 2004 and beyond.
Text: "State of the Union 2004"