Hardworking Seniors Act (H.R. 10072)

Under current law, seniors who are still working and covered by an employer’s health plan lose the ability to contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA) as soon as they enroll in Medicare Part A. The Hardworking Seniors Act fixes that by letting them continue to save for their own health care in a tax-advantaged HSA.

What the bill does (redirect):

This legislation lets working seniors keep saving for their own health care by amending the tax code to:

• Allow individuals enrolled in Medicare Part A to continue making contributions to a Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Remove the automatic penalty that strips HSA eligibility from seniors the moment Part A enrollment begins
• Preserve the existing tax treatment of HSA contributions and withdrawals for those seniors
• Apply to contributions made in taxable years beginning after enactment

My take:

Minnesotans work hard for what they have, and they should not be punished by the tax code for staying on the job.

Right now, federal law says you cannot contribute to a Health Savings Account if you are enrolled in Medicare Part A. So a 66-year-old who is still working and still on her employer’s health plan can no longer set tax-advantaged money aside for her own care. Not because anything changed about her job or her coverage, but because she had a birthday.

That has cost working seniors real money for years. 

I was proud to introduce the Hardworking Seniors Act, which lets seniors covered by Part A keep contributing to their HSAs. It does not create a new program or spend a new dollar. It simply stops the federal government from telling people who are still working that they can no longer save for their own health care.

You sent me to Washington to fight for the people who get up every morning and do the work that adds value to their communities. Letting them keep more of what they earn and saving it for their own care is a common sense solution, and I will keep at it.