DALLAS — Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne says there’s no better time than now to talk about our health. And she is putting legislation where her mouth is.
“Everybody’s talking about it. Between this pandemic and lack of insurance, people right now are crunching the dollars and how they’re going to be able to spend them, everybody wants to be healthy,” Congresswoman Van Duyne said on Inside Texas Politics.
The Republican from Irving recently filed three pieces of legislation affecting your health in general, and HSA (Health Savings Account) dollars in particular. And as part of her outreach, Congresswoman Van Duyne spent the last week touring hospitals and meeting with healthcare providers and physicians.
Her first bill would nearly double the amount folks can contribute to their HSAs. It also removes the requirement that you be enrolled in a high deductible plan. And it would allow people to spend their HSA dollars in more areas.
Watch the segment below:
Another piece of legislation would allow people to add their non-dependent parents to their insurance coverage until that parent is eligible for Medicare or Medicaid.
Congresswoman Van Duyne says providing more options and flexibility allows for better healthcare at a more affordable price.
“So, that if you have a non-dependent parent, you can stretch those dollars to pay for non-dependent parent care,” she said. “So, if you find that you have a parent before Medicare age, who has lost a job unexpectedly, has become a widow or widower, has gotten divorced and they don’t have access to healthcare, that’s something that you can actually use HSA dollars for.”
The Republican’s third bill would allow you to set up a Child Heath Savings Account, so you can set aside money to grow tax-free for your child’s future health expenses. Think of it as a 529 program for healthcare. And your child would take ownership of the HSA when they turn 18.
The Congresswoman is also still tracking the investigation into the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville. That nearly 12-hour standoff inside the synagogue ended with the four hostages escaping unharmed and the suspect dead. Van Duyne recently introduced a resolution condemning the attack as anti-Semitic.
“It had bi-partisan support," Van Duyne said. "We’ve got over 180 signatures on it right now calling out that attack as anti-Semitic, recognizing it for what it was and calling it a terrorist attack. And I’m hoping that law enforcement, including the FBI, will identify that and look into it.”