Sign our Letter to Capitol Hill

March 23, 2020

 

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi                                       The Honorable Mitch McConnell

The Speaker,                                                                  The Majority Leader,

United States House of Representatives                     United States Senate

 

The Honorable Kevin McCarthy                                  The Honorable Charles Schumer

The Minority Leader,                                                     The Minority Leader,

United States House of Representatives                     United States Senate

 

BY HAND

 

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader McCarthy, and Minority Leader Schumer:

 

            We write to convey our hopes that in your four-corner discussions to fund the continued operations of the federal government, an agreement can be reached to include the bi-partisan Primary Care Enhancement Act of 2019in the final package for a vote on the U.S. House and U.S. Senate floor.

 

            As employers, we are urging you to make this bill law because it would enable the expansion of a proven model that gives our employees greater access to high-quality primary care services at a lower cost by allowing employees the option of using funds from their Health Savings Account to finance their direct primary care membership fees.

 

Most employers pay less than $65 per participant per month to subsidize the cost of a direct primary care benefit for their employees.  As employers, we view this investment to be easily justified when considering the reduction in out-of-pocket expenses for employees, and the improved health outcomes that result from regular access to exceptional primary care.

 

We also urge you to dismiss, out-of-hand, any of the “price cap” concerns you may have heard about this bill for the simple reason that the caps in the bill are more than adequate and not restrictive to this market.

 

            Further, H.R. 3708 has recently unanimously passed the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, has been scored and the same bill passed on the House floor in 2017.  There are very few bills that are bi-partisan and unanimous on any health care issue.

 

            Employers feel a strong sense of responsibility when it comes to ensuring that employees and their families have access to affordable health care benefits and quality health care services, and direct primary care is one of the rare solutions that is working today, helping employers do just that. Thank you for your consideration of these views.