Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3800) to codify Internal Revenue Service guidance relating to treatment of certain services and items for chronic conditions as meeting the preventive care deductible safe harbor for purposes of high deductible health plans in connection with health savings accounts, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3800

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act''. SEC. 2. SERVICES AND ITEMS FOR CHRONIC CONDITIONS TREATED AS PREVENTIVE CARE.

(a) In General.--The additional preventive care services and items for chronic conditions that may be treated as preventive care for purposes of section 223(c)(2)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as set forth in IRS Notice 2019-45 shall have the same force and effect as if included in the enactment of this Act.

(b) No Inference.--To the extent not inconsistent with this section, no inference shall be made from subsection (a) with respect to such other rules or guidance as the Secretary has provided, or may provide, with respect to preventive services for purposes of section 223(c)(2)(C) of such Code.

Mr. Speaker, 6 in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic disease, such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. Nearly 90 percent of the $4.1 trillion in annual healthcare spending in this country goes toward the treatment of patients with chronic diseases.

Part of improving the delivery of healthcare in America must be expanding the opportunity for folks to better manage their chronic health conditions so that they can live longer, healthier lives, and we can bring down the financial impact of healthcare on individuals, families, businesses, and the government.

The Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act, introduced by Ways and Means colleagues Dr. Wenstrup and Representative Blumenauer, will expand treatment and disease management options by allowing employers that offer high-deductible healthcare plans to also offer predeductible coverage, otherwise known as first-dollar coverage, for 14 chronic healthcare services.

Those services include beta blockers for patients with congestive heart failure, blood pressure monitors for patients with high blood pressure, inhalers for patients with asthma, and cholesterol drugs and testing for patients with heart disease. The list does not have to end there. In fact, the bill also allows for that list of covered services to be expanded in the future.

The Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act actually codifies a Trump administration policy that will incentivize employers to offer coverage for these services so that they can lower healthcare costs for their workers and their businesses.

High-deductible health plans are a great option for employers and employees looking for more affordable coverage, and this bill will make them even more beneficial to individuals with chronic disease.

Flexibilities like these in care delivery and coverage options are key to improving patient outcomes, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, this legislation was approved by the Ways and Means Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support, and I hope we can show that same level of support here today. I yield back the balance of my time.

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