In a letter to the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services last week, ABA urged it to reconsider a recently issued regulation that would effectively eliminate health savings account-qualified health plans from insurance exchanges beginning next year, causing an estimated 2.8 million Americans to lose their coverage.
The department issued the rule as part of its annual review of qualified health plans under the Affordable Care Act. ABA pointed out that the final design requirements HHS has put in place for exchange-based HSA plans are incompatible with those established by the IRS, thereby disqualifying them from being sold on state exchanges and those managed on healthcare.gov.
Members of Congress have also raised concerns over the rule; more than 30 lawmakers have requested that HHS further clarify, in writing, how it made these determinations.
