CARES Act Allows First-Dollar Coverage of Telehealth Services for HSA Participants

March 27, 2020 – The sweeping CARES Act legislation signed into law on March 27, 2020 included various provisions related to tax-advantaged plans, including Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). One such provision was the allowance of HSA accountholders to receive coverage for telehealth services from a high deductible health plan (HDHP) without cost sharing before the statutory deductible is met without impacting HSA eligibility. This allowance is limited to plan years beginning on or before December 31, 2021.

Telehealth, or telemedicine, is defined by The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as, “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support and promote long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration. Technologies include videoconferencing, the internet, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media, and terrestrial and wireless communications.”

Per the ONC, telehealth may include videoconferencing, remote patient monitoring (RPM), as well as Mobile health (mHealth).

Please contact your dedicated account manager at 800.532.3327 with questions regarding this legislation.

Other HSA Updates Related to COVID-19:

The Internal Revenue Service also issued notice 2020-15 on March 11, 2020. This ruling clarifies that coverage by High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) for expenses related to testing and treatment of COVID-19 before the plan deductible has been met will not impact Health Savings Account (HSA) eligibility. HSA accountholders may continue to make contributions to HSAs without penalty or risk of jeopardizing their HSA status. Read More

The CARES Act also expanded HSAs to allow pre-tax treatment for Over-the-Counter Medication and Menstrual Care Items. Read More

The IRS extends the deadline for 2019 HSA Contributions to July 15, 2020. Read More