The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. Photo: Allison Bell/ALM
Three House members are keeping up the fight to make the health savings account program friendlier to people who already have health problems.
The lawmakers sent a letter asking the Internal Revenue Service to expand the list of chronic disease management items that an HSA-compatible "high-deductible health plan" can cover before the patient reaches the plan deductible.
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The lawmakers want IRS officials to add items to the list in IRS Notice 2019-45, a batch of HDHP chronic disease benefits guidance that the IRS released during President Donald Trump's first term in office. The notice already lets HDHPs provide pre-deductible coverage for some items.
"While this notice was a significant step forward in expanding access to essential chronic disease management services, we urge you to build on this progress by updating and expanding the list of covered services and items," the lawmakers write in the letter.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, leads the list of lawmakers who signed the letter.
Another House member on the list is Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee and the co-chair of the Congressional Preventative Health and Wellness Caucus.
The third member on the list Rep. Jim Panetta, D-Calif., a member of the Ways and Means Committee and a member of the House Diabetes Caucus.
What it means: If the IRS expands the list of services that HSA-compatible plans can cover before patients reach their deductibles, that could help employers make HDHP coverage more attractive to workers with health problems and increase the percentage of workers who choose HDHP coverage options over low-deductible coverage options.
The backdrop: Buchanan and Panetta joined earlier this year to introduce the Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act bill. The bill would make the 2019 IRS notice federal law. House members approved the bill by a voice vote March 4.
Related: IRS loosens rules on health plan coverage for preventive care
The 2019 guidance lets an HSA-compatible HDHP provide pre-deductible coverage for items such as beta-blockers for congestive heart failure, blood pressure monitors for people with high blood pressure and blood sugar meters for people with diabetes.
Smith said in March, when the Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act came up on the House floor, that turning the 2019 guidance into legislation would strengthen efforts to improve HDHPs' coverage for people with chronic conditions.
"While the bill includes 14 specific services that could be covered, it leaves the door open for the list to be expanded later," Smith said.
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
