GOP lawmaker targets Fed interest payments to banks as way to fund healthcare

(The Center Square) – The Republican lawmaker who sponsored the Great American Healthcare Act presented a plan Wednesday to help fund the bill: Stop the Federal Reserve from paying interest on bank reserves.

Under that plan, the estimated $1 trillion the Federal Reserve will spend over the next decade on bank reserve interest payments would instead be redirected toward implementing the legislation.

“Every healthcare proposal eventually runs into the same question: How do you pay for it?” U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Missouri, stated. “My bill answers that question. By reforming the Federal Reserve’s authority to pay interest on reserve balances, we can use the savings to help offset the cost of putting patients back in charge of their healthcare.”

Among other measures, the Great American Healthcare Act would expand eligibility to Health Savings Accounts to people without high-deductible plans and raise yearly H...