The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 was passed by the Senate on the last day of the lame duck session. It made some technical fixes to HSAs based on bank, employer, and participant experience. Two of the provisions were highly requested by ABA's HSA Council. One provision was included that repeals the annual deductible limitation on HSAs. Another provision removes the 1/12th rule for contributions. Here is a summary and a technical explanationof all the provisions. Here is an ABA Telephone Briefing reviewing the HSA provisions in detail. Here is a commented chart of the provisions prepared by Davis & Harman LLP.
Health Opportunity Patient Empowerment Act of 2006 This bill was introduced in September of 2006 to bring together provisions from Representatives Cantor's and Ryan's bills as well as the concepts that Chairman Thomas of Ways & Means wanted to address. Here is a summary of the bill. The HSA Council Letter expresses support for all provisions, especially the provision that allows full funding of the HSA no matter when the participant began in the plan. See the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Cost Estimate for budget impact information.
HR 4511 was introduced in the US House of Representatives (December 2005): The bill would allow employers to provide Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and also allow Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to cover amounts below the deductible.
S. 2585was introduced in April 2006. It would allow the death the benefit received by military family members to be rolled into tax free savings accounts, including HSAs.
