Seniors Deserve Access to Health Savings Accounts

There is overwhelming support for allowing American seniors to access Health Savings Accounts, according to an editorial by the American Bankers Association's Health Savings Accounts Council Executive Director Kevin McKechnie in The Hill . He writes that the bipartisan Health Savings for Seniors Act "would serve as a strong supplement to Medicare and offer a commonsense healthcare boost for our seniors. This is a different approach than Medicare for All, the public option, or Medicare buy-in that will help some of our most vulnerable citizens." Seniors covered by Medicare are not currently permitted to set up or continue contributing to their Health Savings, which helps lower out-of-pocket costs while boosting efficiency in the healthcare system. "Health Savings Accounts also incentivize saving for healthcare expenses by providing critical tax benefits, just as we do for saving for retirement or college," McKechnie notes. "These tax benefits have become even more important as deductibles and other healthcare costs continue to skyrocket." Deductibles can be nearly $2,000 combined, and other out-of-pocket Medicare expenses constitute a percentage of the charges. "Seniors deserve access to the healthcare they have worked their whole lives to secure and Congress should expand Health Savings Accounts to help them do that," McKechnie concludes.