Letter re: Health Savings Account Mark-Up

The Honorable Kevin Brady
Chairman
Committee on Ways and Means
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Richard Neal
Ranking Member
Committee on Ways and Means
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Neal:

There are many legislative proposals addressing HSA flexibility before the Ways and Means Committee.We want to offer broad support for your efforts, especially those that are bi-partisan or embrace our top priorities. The HSA Council represents about 94% of the HSAs in the United States and the millions of Americans who finance their health care with these products.

Our first priority, and one we appreciate you including in your proposal,is to allow working seniors to keep their employer-provided HSAs and also be covered by Medicare, which is prohibited undercurrent law. Working seniors who have employer PPO or HMO coverage are allowed to have Medicare coverage; working seniors with HSAs are not. Accordingly, we support the provision included in Senator Hatch and Representative Paulsen’s bill, that is now included in your proposal,that would make this change.

Second, we support Representative Paulsen’s proposal increasing the maximum contribution to equal the out-of-pocket maximum for an HSA-qualified health plan. This way, consumers can manage their entire annual health risk on a tax-preferred basis.

We look forward to working with you on this important legislation and urge its quick passage.