HSA vs COVID-19

This is big:

"The Internal Revenue Service today advised that high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) can pay for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)-related testing and treatment, without jeopardizing their status."https://t.co/ItIWGHrpEu

— Joe Kristan (@joebwan) March 11, 2020

Here's why:

HSA-compliant health insurance plans must include certain features (and are proscribed from including others). In general, so-called first-dollar benefits are strictly prohibited. Waiving co-pays and deductibles for CV-19 testing would seem to fall into this category, so the IRS has pro-actively gone on record waiving the potential fines:

"To facilitate the nation’s response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) ... a health plan that otherwise satisfies the requirements to be a high deductible health plan (HDHP) ... will not fail to be an HDHP ... merely because the health plan provides health benefits associated with testing for and treatment of COVID-19 without a deductible, or with a deductible below the minimum deductible (self only or family) for an HDHP."

Sweet.