I only read the story, not the bill itself, but it seems like they’re taking away more than they’re giving.
The bill does come with a tradeoff: It would remove the ability to use HSA withdrawals to pay for Medicare premiums — something that’s currently allowed. It also would eliminate penalty-free withdrawals for nonmedical expenses in the 65-and-older crowd as now permitted.
Say you have a 65 year old retiree with an HSA that’s been funded and has a nice balance. Let’s also presume they have selected traditional Medicare and have a medigap G policy. Let’s look at what they can spend HSA money on. Certainly their Medicare premiums ($170/mo), but you basically don’t pay anything else substantial that would be qualified HSA spending, right? If your HSA has $30K in it, there’s going to be a lot of HSA money left over. And if they take away the ability to pay Medicare premiums, well, what the heck will you spend the money on?
I can see if you had no HSA when you reached 65, and you signed up for an “advantage” plan, where they’re going to be finding creative ways to bill you for something you thought would be covered, then the ability to wash funds through an HSA would be of benefit. But if you’ve already got an HSA funded, I don’t see that this law is beneficial, and in fact negatively impacts a lot of people.
Am I in the weeds?