Legislative Alert

Late last week, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Ranking Member, Senate Finance Committee and Representative Erik Paulsen (R-3rd, MN) introduced the “Family and Retirement Health Investment Act of 2011.”  The bill numbers are not yet available.  The legislation makes a number of changes to strengthen and expand health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs).  Specific provisions in the legislation would:

• allow a husband and wife to make catch-up contributions to the same HSA;
  remove the requirement that an individual have a physician’s prescription to obtain HSA or FSA reimbursement for OTC drugs;
• allow individuals to roll-over up to $500 from their FSA accounts;
• clarify the use of prescription drugs as preventive care that will not be subject to an HSA-eligible plan deductible;
• reauthorize the use of Medicaid health opportunity accounts;
  promote wellness by expanding the definition of qualified medical expenses to encourage more exercise and better diet;
• allow seniors enrolled in Medicare Part A to continue contributing to their HSAs; and
• allow for the purchase of low-premium health insurance and long-term care insurance with HSA dollars.

For more details or summaries you can access them in PDF format as follows: Legislative Text, Short Summary and Long Summary. We will discuss the legislation in greater detail during out next Members Primary Contacts call which will take place on June 14th.