A tax package recently passed by Congress and a recent policy change together will make an additional 10 million Americans eligible to open and contribute to health savings accounts, according to a new report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
The One Bill Beautiful Bill Act includes a provision that reclassifies bronze and catastrophic Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans as qualifying health plans for HSAs, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Approximately 30% of marketplace enrollees selected bronze plans during the 2025 open enrollment report, or approximately 7.27 million people, according to the report. A much smaller pool of 54,000 people selected catastrophic plans, for a total of roughly 7.3 million.
In addition, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced changes to the catastrophic enrollment processes that will further expand the number of Americans eligible for HSAs, the report said.
“Previously, catastrophic plans were restricted to those under 30 years old or individuals who qualify for a hardship exemption,” it said. “CMS has expanded eligibility for those over 30 to qualify for catastrophic plans through the Obamacare law’s hardship enrollment pathway. These expansions in catastrophic eligibility will likely increase enrollment by several million more. We estimate the additional enrollment of 3 million in catastrophic plans coupled with the expansion of HSA eligibility for bronze and catastrophic plans, will increase the number of Americans eligible for an HSA to 10 million.”
HSA assets reached nearly $147 billion across more than 39 million accounts in 2024, according to a report by HSA investment solution provider Devenir.
