Sponsors (3)
The bill preserves HSA eligibility while allowing deductible-free telehealth (expanding access and reducing legal uncertainty), but it may modestly raise plan costs and create incentives to exempt more services from deductibles, weakening cost-sharing and raising spending.
Individuals with HSAs (e.g., middle-class families and patients with chronic conditions) can keep HSA eligibility and continue tax-advantaged contributions even if their HDHP waives deductibles for telehealth.
Plan sponsors can offer telehealth without a deductible without jeopardizing employees' ability to contribute to HSAs, which encourages broader telehealth access for workers and patients.
Clarifying the cross-reference reduces legal uncertainty about which plans qualify as HDHPs, simplifying plan design and administration for employers, insurers, and health systems.
The safe-harbor may encourage plans to carve out more services from deductibles, weakening cost-sharing incentives and potentially raising overall health spending for patients and enrollees.
Employers or insurers that waive telehealth deductibles may face higher short-term costs that could be passed along to enrollees through higher premiums.
Removing the specific cross-reference may create short-term interpretive questions for some plans, insurers, and tax advisers until implementing guidance is issued.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows plans to waive deductibles for telehealth and remote care without losing HDHP status for HSA eligibility.
Official title: Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently extend the exemption for telehealth services from certain high deductible health plan rules.
Introduced February 27, 2025 by Steve Daines · Last progress February 27, 2025
Creates a rule in the tax code that lets health plans waive deductibles for telehealth and other remote care services without losing their status as high deductible health plans (HDHPs) for Health Savings Account (HSA) eligibility. The change applies to plan years beginning after December 31, 2024, and preserves HSA access for people whose plans cover telehealth before the deductible is met.