U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D., R-La., used remarks on the Senate floor Friday to call for an end to the federal government shutdown and to urge Congress to take up substantive health insurance reforms aimed at lowering costs for families.
“The government has been shut down for 38 days now,” Cassidy said, pointing to the growing frustration among Americans and warning that another failed vote could extend the stalemate into next week.
At the heart of his address was a critique of the current insurance-subsidy structure under the so-called “Enhanced Premium Tax Credit,” or ePTC, which he described as funneling taxpayer dollars to large insurers without providing incentives to reduce premiums. “Under the ePTC, if your insurance premium goes up, Washington simply pays more of the bill… There’s no incentive to bring costs down, no transparency about what care really costs, and no reward for families who try to save,” he commented.
Cassidy proposed an alternative: a federally pre-funded flexible spending account (FSA) that would funnel the same or similar federal dollars directly to eligible American families rather than to insurance companies. That account, he said, would allow families to use the funds for “dental care … vision care … orthodontics … prescription drugs and medical supplies … routine medical services and preventive care.” It would not cover insurance premiums.
“I want to present colleagues and fellow Americans with an idea that can move us forward out of this stalemate and solve the health care affordability problem,” Cassidy said. ([U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy][1]) He characterized the idea as not a partisan solution but “an American solution,” saying, “I am a rock-ribbed Republican but I will say, this is not a Republican solution, it is not a Democrat solution, it is an American solution.”
Cassidy said the proposal would shift the current subsidy model so that federal funds go into consumer-controlled accounts rather than to insurers. “Instead of paying insurance companies to manage our money, let’s trust Americans to manage their own care — with a pre-funded Federal Flexible Spending Account,” he said.
He also tied the health-care reform conversation to the shutdown, calling on Democrats to join Republicans in reopening the government so that work on “genuine reforms to fix the insurance market and lower health care costs” can begin.
Cassidy, a physician before joining Congress, said his experience reinforcing his reform mindset. “This is personal to me. I practiced in a public hospital for the uninsured for two decades. I saw middle income patients who could no longer afford insurance and now came to the hospital where I worked,” he said.
His message: the status quo is failing. “We’re not fixing the system — we’re just hiding the fracture,” he said.
The Louisiana senator, who serves on key committees with jurisdiction over health policy, made clear the reform he was proposing carries roughly the same cost as the existing subsidy model, but distributes funds differently and leverages consumer decision-making to reduce total spending. “Yes, it will — about the same as the current ePTC,” Cassidy said. “But the difference is where that money goes.”
As the shutdown lingers, Cassidy’s pitch is part of a broader Republican push to link reopening of the government with structural policy changes in health care, rather than simply a short-term funding fix. For now the prospects of bipartisan agreement remain uncertain.
