Groom health practice associate, William Fischer, is quoted by NOTUS in the article, “How MAHA Could Grow Its Reach Through Health Savings Accounts.” This article examines how the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) could expand its Make America Healthy Again (“MAHA”) philosophy by influencing policy and regulations governing health savings accounts (“HSA”), including with regard to what qualifies as an HSA expense. Fischer’s comments focus on HHS’s potential impact on IRS rules in this area.
This question is timely as HSAs have become a key piece of the Republican healthcare agenda and were expanded to additional insurance plans through the recent reconciliation package. There are also ongoing policy discussions and legislative efforts related to further expanding HSAs.
Prior to joining Groom, Fischer served at the IRS during the first Trump Administration, where he worked on the 2019 IRS guidance that “expanded [the] list of ‘preventative care’ measures that could be covered by HSAs.” Discussing interagency collaboration on that guidance, Fischer explained, “for that expansion, HHS provided the scientific studies used to determine what counted as preventive care, and for which diagnosis.” He added, “‘HHS certainly had input on that list, and that list was developed in conjunction with HHS.’” However, Fischer commented, “he [does not] think the HSA-expansion advocates at HHS would be very successful because ‘at the end of the day, Treasury and IRS have final say over the HSA rules, and any expansion would have to be code-based.’”
To read the article, click here.
