Bill > S1031

This bill, titled the "Family and Retirement Health Investment Act of 2013," aims to improve healthcare access by expanding the use and benefits of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Key provisions include allowing both spouses to make "catch-up" contributions to the same HSA if they are both over 55 and one spouse isn't already an HSA beneficiary, and clarifying eligibility for HSAs for individuals over 65 enrolled only in Medicare Part A, veterans receiving care for service-connected disabilities, individuals eligible for Indian Health Service assistance, and those with TRICARE coverage. The bill also modifies rules for Flexible Spending Arrangements (FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) to allow for "qualified HSA distributions," meaning funds from these accounts can be transferred to an HSA under certain conditions, and that year-end FSA balances won't be forfeited if elected for HSA contribution. Furthermore, it expands the definition of qualified medical expenses to include prescription and over-the-counter medicines and drugs, allows the purchase of certain types of health insurance from HSAs (including high-deductible health plans themselves), and permits HSAs to cover medical expenses incurred shortly before the account was established if the individual was covered by a high-deductible health plan at the time. The bill also clarifies that preventive care includes prescription and over-the-counter drugs for chronic conditions, grants HSAs equivalent bankruptcy protections as retirement funds, allows for the correction of administrative errors in HSA contributions before tax filing deadlines, and reauthorizes Medicaid Health Opportunity Accounts. Additionally, members of health care sharing ministries are now eligible to establish HSAs, and "high deductible health plans" will be renamed "HSA qualified health plans" for clarity. The bill also treats direct primary care service arrangements as not being health plans for certain purposes and allows for certain exercise equipment, physical fitness programs, and nutritional supplements to be treated as medical care, with limitations. Finally, it repeals annual limitations on deductibles for employer-sponsored plans in the small group market.