Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan yesterday signed emergency legislation that would fix a state law inadvertently preventing hundreds of thousands of Marylanders with high-deductible health plans from contributing to their health savings accounts. The American Bankers Association’s HSA Council and the Maryland Bankers Association worked closely with the Maryland legislature to win unanimous passage of the bill.
The bill became necessary after Maryland passed a law requiring health insurers to provide first-dollar coverage of vasectomies. However, vasectomies are not recognized by the IRS as a preventive procedure eligible for first-dollar coverage under an HDHP, thus hampering the ability of Marylanders with HDHPs and HSAs to use them. The bill addresses the problem by allowing vasectomies to be subject to an HDHP’s deductible requirement.
The HSA Council has been working with state bankers associations across the country to address state legislatures’ attempts to mandate first-dollar coverage of procedures not recognized as preventive medicine by the IRS. In Vermont, for example, the legislature’s effort to mandate first-dollar coverage for vasectomies includes an ABA-advocated carveout for HSA-qualified HDHPs. For more information, contact ABA’s Kevin McKechnie.
