Several Health Savings Bills Proposed

Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) recently introduced two bills aimed at providing more flexibility for the use of health savings accounts (HSAs). Senate bill 2113 proposes to expand permissible distributions from an employee’s health flexible spending arrangement or health reimbursement arrangement to the employee’s HSA. Senate bill 2099 proposes to make HSAs more broadly available by removing the requirement that individuals be enrolled in a high deductible health plan. Further details of these proposals have not yet been made available.

A third bill has been introduced by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA). The Telehealth HSA Act would allow high deductible health plans to provide telehealth services before meeting the plan deductible without affecting HSA eligibility. Currently, employees may need to pay out of pocket for such services.

All three bills have been referred to the Senate Finance Committee for further consideration.