I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2626 
To provide for incentives to encourage health insurance coverage, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 7, 2007 
Mr. PRICE of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on 
Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, Oversight and Government 
Reform, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for incentives to encourage health insurance 
coverage, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Comprehensive Health Coverage And Reform Enhance-
ment 
Act 
of 
2007’’ 
or 
as 
the 
‘‘Comprehensive 
HealthCARE Act of 2007’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Americans are best served by a health care 
system that thrives on and rewards competition, 
choice, personal control, affordability, accessibility, 
and quality. Now is the time to initiate new policies 
that allow innovation to excel and that respond best 
to patient’s demands, needs, and preferences. 
(2) In 2005, health care spending in the United 
States reached $2 trillion, and it is projected to 
reach $2.9 trillion in 2009. Health care spending is 
projected to reach $4 trillion by 2015. 
(3) In 2005, the total national health expendi-
tures rose 6.9 percent—two times the rate of infla-
tion. Total health care spending represented 16 per-
cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). 
(4) Census data show that 46.6 million Ameri-
cans were uninsured at some point in 2005, an in-
crease of 1.3 million from the comparable number of 
uninsured in 2004 (45.3 million). This percentage 
rose from 15.6 percent in 2004 to 15.9 percent in 
2005. 
(5) Lack of insurance is much more common 
among people with low incomes. Some 24.4 percent 
of people with incomes below $25,000 were unin-
sured in 2005, almost triple the rate of 8.5 percent 
among people with incomes over $75,000. 
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(6) National surveys show that the primary rea-
son people are uninsured is the high cost of health 
insurance coverage. 
(7) The percentage of Americans who are unin-
sured continues to rise due to a decrease of employ-
ees with employer-sponsored coverage. 
(8) Premiums for employer-based health insur-
ance rose by 7.7 percent in 2006. Small employers 
saw their premiums, on average, increase 8.8 per-
cent. Firms with less than 24 workers, experienced 
an increase of 10.5 percent. 
(9) The average employee contribution to com-
pany-provided health insurance has increased more 
than 143 percent since 2000. Average out-of-pocket 
costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications, 
and co-insurance for physician and hospital visits 
rose 115 percent during the same period. 
(10) With our current defined benefit model, 
employers determine health benefits, dictate costs 
for individuals and families, and hold the contract 
with the insurance company. 
(11) Employer-sponsored defined benefit health 
insurance plans have led employees to believe they 
are receiving free coverage, while economists have 
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shown that workers forgo higher wages in lieu of 
health benefits. 
(12) Americans pay higher prices for fewer 
choices under our current defined benefit model. 
(13) With both government and employer pro-
vided health care, there is a lack of individual owner-
ship and personal choice for patients. 
(14) There are 18 million Americans who pur-
chase health insurance on their own and currently, 
these individuals pay higher taxes than those who 
get insurance through their employer, due to the tax 
deductibility allowed to the employer for the pur-
chase pf health insurance. 
(15) Most of the incentives in our current sys-
tem are wrong, causing patients to frequently receive 
more tests and procedures than needed 
(16) Health insurers would be more responsive 
to individuals and families if health insurance poli-
cies were owned by the person most directly affected 
by the coverage—the patient. 
(17) Providing individuals and families with 
various options to help them secure and maintain 
personal, defined contribution coverage of their 
choice, would make health care coverage more af-
fordable and accessible for all Americans. 
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(18) It is appropriate to encourage increased ef-
ficiency in the offering of health insurance coverage 
through a collaborative approach by the States in 
regulating this coverage. 
(19) Individual health insurance coverage is in-
creasingly offered through the Internet, other elec-
tronic means, and by mail; all of which are inher-
ently part of interstate commerce. 
(20) The application of numerous and signifi-
cant variations in State law impacts the ability of in-
surers to offer, and individuals to obtain, affordable 
individual health insurance coverage, thereby imped-
ing commerce in individual health insurance cov-
erage. 
(21) Our current civil justice system is ad-
versely affecting patient access to health care serv-
ices, better patient care, and cost-efficient health 
care. The health care liability system is a costly and 
ineffective mechanism for resolving claims of health 
care liability and appropriately compensating injured 
patients, and is a deterrent to the sharing of infor-
mation among health care professionals which im-
pedes efforts to improve patient safety and quality 
health care. 
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