The House Ways and Means Committee has approved two bills which affect health care:
HR 5445, approved 23-15, stiplualtes that employees enrolled in high-deductible plans and opting for single coverage in 2017 can contribute up to $6,500 to their HSAs, while those with family coverage could contribute up to $13,100. Under current law, the 2017 maximum HSA contributions are $3,400 for employees with single coverage and $6,750 for family coverage.
“The idea is to allow employees to fund all their out-of-pocket costs – except plan premium costs – through their HSA contributions,” said James Gelfand, senior vice president of health policy at the ERISA Industry Committee in Washington.
HR 210 allows colleges and universities to exclude students they employ (like teaching assistants) from an ACA provision that imposes a big penalty (currently $2,160 for each full-time employee) on employers that do not offer coverage to at least 95% of full-time employees, those working an average of at least 30 hours per week.
