Save on healthcare and dependent-care costs with tax-advantaged accounts: HSAs, FSAs, HRAs, and Premium Only Plans (POPs).
Yes, and it’s now permanent. Federal law lets an HDHP cover telehealth and other remote care before you meet the deductible without losing HSA eligibility. The temporary pandemic rule was made permanent by the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Yes, as of January 1, 2026. A new law lets someone enrolled in a qualifying direct primary care arrangement still contribute to an HSA and pay the DPC fee from it tax-free. The fee must be capped at $150/month for one person ($300 for a family).
Employers can offer an ICHRA to specific defined classes of employees instead of everyone, applying the same terms within each class. Permitted classes include full-time, part-time, salaried, hourly, seasonal, new hires, and those in the same insurance rating area.
It depends on the HRA type. A traditional/integrated HRA covers employees enrolled in the group plan; ICHRAs can be offered to all employees or defined classes; and QSEHRAs must generally be offered to all full-time employees on the same terms.
A POP is a simple Section 125 cafeteria plan that lets employees pay their share of group-insurance premiums with pre-tax dollars, cutting income and payroll taxes for employees and payroll taxes for the employer.
A limited-purpose FSA only reimburses dental and vision expenses (and sometimes preventive care). Because it doesn’t cover general medical costs, you can pair it with an HSA without losing HSA eligibility.
Yes. An HSA can double as a powerful retirement tool. After age 65 you can withdraw funds for any purpose without penalty (paying only ordinary income tax on non-medical withdrawals), while medical withdrawals stay tax-free at any age.
Usually no. A spouse’s general-purpose FSA can cover your expenses, which counts as disqualifying coverage and makes you ineligible to contribute to an HSA, even if you’re not enrolled in the FSA yourself.
A traditional HRA reimburses eligible out-of-pocket medical costs; deductibles, copays, and coinsurance, and, depending on the employer’s design, other IRS-qualified medical expenses for employees enrolled in the group plan.
An MPRA is an employer arrangement, generally for small employers with fewer than 20 employees, that reimburses Medicare-enrolled employees, tax-free, for their Medicare Part B, Part D, and Medigap premiums.
An ICHRA lets an employer of any size reimburse employees tax-free for individual-market health insurance premiums (and often other medical costs) instead of offering a traditional group plan. Employees must be enrolled in qualifying individual coverage or Medicare, verified monthly.
If the HRA offer is “affordable,” it blocks the premium tax credit: the employee takes the HRA instead. If it’s unaffordable, the employee may opt out and keep the PTC. A QSEHRA also reduces the PTC dollar-for-dollar, while an ICHRA is all-or-nothing.
A QSEHRA is only for employers with fewer than 50 FTEs and no group plan, has statutory dollar caps, and is not an ERISA plan (no COBRA). An ICHRA is for employers of any size, has no dollar cap, allows up to 11 employee classes, can run alongside a group plan for other classes, and IS an ERISA group health plan.
ICHRA lets employers give workers a defined, tax-free dollar amount to buy their own individual coverage instead of running a group plan. Adoption has grown about 1,000% since 2020, recently roughly +34% a year among larger employers and +52% among smaller ones, pushed by steep group renewals and the end of enhanced subsidies.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 2025) made several 2026 changes: it expanded HSA eligibility (individual-market bronze/catastrophic plans, direct primary care, permanent telehealth), raised the dependent-care FSA limit to $7,500, and enhanced the dependent-care tax credit to a 50% top rate.
Employers often “seed” HSAs to make high-deductible plans more attractive and to reward enrollment. Employer HSA contributions are tax-free to the employee and count toward the annual HSA limit ($4,400 self-only / $8,750 family for 2026), and they must satisfy either Section 125 testing or the separate HSA “comparability” rules.
No. Once you enroll in any part of Medicare, including premium-free Part A, you can no longer contribute to an HSA, though you can still spend the existing balance. To keep contributing while working past 65, you must delay all of Medicare, which usually means not claiming Social Security.
Yes. If an employer allows HSA contributions through payroll on a pre-tax basis, they must allow employees to change their HSA contribution elections during the year, generally at least on a monthly basis.
Generally no. Membership in a health care sharing ministry is usually treated as disqualifying other coverage for HSA purposes and does not qualify as an HSA-eligible health plan.
Married couples with family HSA coverage can split contributions in any way they choose, as long as the combined total stays within the annual family limit and catch-up contributions go into each spouse’s own HSA.
Sometimes. Health FSAs are only COBRA-eligible if the account is underspent at the time of the qualifying event, while dependent care FSAs are not subject to COBRA.
Yes, but not for the same expenses. Any child or dependent care costs reimbursed through a Dependent Care Account must be excluded from the expenses you claim for the tax credit.
You can use a Dependent Care Account to pay for eligible child or adult care expenses that allow you (and your spouse, if married) to work or look for work.
It depends on who you name as beneficiary. If your spouse inherits the HSA, it becomes their HSA. If anyone else inherits it, the account ends and the full value becomes taxable income.
Yes, but only once in your lifetime. This is called a Qualified HSA Funding Distribution, and the amount transferred counts toward your annual HSA contribution limit.