June 24, 1996

In a speech on the floor of the Senate today, Ted Kennedy (D-MA) claimed:

``There is no clamor for Medical Savings Accounts except from special interest groups who see an opportunity for profits.''

He called MSAs the ``poison pill'' that is preventing passage of the Kassebaum- Kennedy health insurance portability bill (H.R. 3103). He went on to accuse Congressional Republicans of killing this bill to help their wealthy friends and of being ``under the hand of Golden Rule Insurance Company.''

To hear Kennedy tell it, the few supporters of MSAs are crooked politicians and greedy businessmen. Do you and your patients fall into either of these categories?

Tell them you support MSAs because they give patients a choice, even though they don't mean another penny in your pocket. Tell them to end tax discrimination against those who self insure for small medical bills (through MSAs) instead of enriching insurance middlemen.

Kennedy says MSAs are a bad idea which can't possibly work. On the contrary, the real fear of MSA critics is that they will work too well, wreaking havoc in the managed-care industry. Now there's a special interest that has thrown a lot of money at Congress!

As Investors' Business Daily says in a May 31 editorial: ``MSAs are a modest attempt to control costs without the iron hand of managed-care rationing. Instead, they inject some consumer discipline into the market.''

THE POISON PILL IN THIS LEGISLATION IS THE CRIMINALIZATION OF MEDICINE (``ANTI-FRAUD'') AND FORCED COMPUTERIZATION (``ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION'').

Kennedy urged Congress to ``do something decent for the American public and pass the bill'' [without MSAs]. We say urge Congress to do something decent and give the people the choice of MSAs, while killing the criminalization and anti-privacy portions.

AAPS has been taking the lead in arousing public concern about these dangers. We have been told that Congress will at least include a ``knowing and willful'' standard of proofÄbut we haven't been able to get this in writing. Ask your Senators and Representatives for a commitment.

And speaking of special interests, be sure to ask about the ``Clearinghouses'' (Equifax, IBM, TRW, and the like), who will put your patients' medical recordsÄwithout their consentÄinto a ``standard code set'' (unless you do it). Sections 1173(b)1), 1173(a)(c), and 1175(a)(1)(2) mean the standardization of all medical records and the end of medical privacy.

If you need further information, check our Web Site, http://www.primenet.com/~snavely. We have posted our answer to the Congressional ``rebuttal'' to our May 30 Wall Street Journal article, which was headlined ``Health Bill Would Shackle Doctors Literally.'' Or call AAPS at (800)635-1196.

Call Congress TODAY. The Capitol Hill switchboard is (202)224-3121.