(Washington, D.C.)  Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers recently cosponsored legislation to make improvements to health savings accounts (HSAs) that will provide more people with affordable health insurance options. H.R. 2693, Promoting Health for Future Generations Act, will allow adult children to inherit HSA plans from their parents, increase annual contribution limits, and fix restrictions that currently prohibit some veterans and seniors from accessing HSAs.

“Health savings accounts provide individuals with affordable health insurance options and give them greater control over their own health care needs,” said McMorris Rodgers. “Part of revolutionizing our health care system is ensuring that the cost of health care is within the reach of individuals and families, while also giving people choices to pick a health care plan that is right for them; HSAs help accomplish both. Millions of people have already chosen to enroll in HSAs and this bill will make important improvements to ensure more people can benefit from this cost-saving option.”

The Promoting Health for Future Generations Act will allow parents to leave funds from an HSA to a surviving son or daughter without tax penalty, the same way that spouses are currently able to inherit HSA funds. To encourage further savings, the annual HSA contribution limit will be increased to $5,500 for individual coverage and $11,000 for family coverage.

The bill will also help give veterans and seniors access to affordable health care. Under current law, individuals are unable to deposit money into an HSA after they receive care through the VA or Medicare systems. This legislation would allow Medicare eligible seniors and VA beneficiaries to continue to contribute to an HSA. It will also allow seniors age 50 and over to make catch-up contributions of up to $2,000 over the annual contribution limit, and permit HSA funds to be used to purchase coverage under a Medicare supplemental policy.”