HSA Distributions

[Sam Slade]

Can distributions from an HSA account belonging to the husband be used to pay for medical expenses for spouse who does not qualify for an HSA?

[S T]

Possibly

From JK Lasser's 2005

A qualified medical expense may be for the care of the account owner, his or her spouse, or dependents, without regard to whether they are eligible to make HSA contributions. In the case of a married couple where both spouses have HSAs, one spouse may use a distribution from his or her HSA to pay or reimburse the qualified medical costs of the other spouse. However, both HSAs many not reimburse the same expense.

For tax-free distribution purposes, a "qualified medical expense" is generally a non-reimbursed payment for medical care that would otherwise be eligible for an itemized deduction

It seems Qualified medical expenses include unreimbusred medical expenses of the account holder, his or her spouse, or dependents.

There are other limitations if the spouse has a HSA Qualifying Plan or if the t/p is covered under the Spouse's health insurance and the t/p and spouse can not have an HSA and FSA at the same time.

Sandy

[Sam Slade]

Hsa

Further information on the original question:

In this particular case, the husband has an individual HSA and the spouse is covered under another health plan that is not an HSA.

[Bees Knees]

The only limitation is the amount allowed as a contribution to the HSA. Since it is a single participant health plan, the contribution to the HSA is limited to the single participant amount. As Sandy said, once money is in the HSA, the money can come out tax free to pay any medical bill of the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or the taxpayer's dependents, regardless of whether there is other insurance to cover these people.