Health savings accounts are open to a wider set of insurance plans this year, because bronze and catastrophic plans have been treated as HSA-compatible since Jan. 1, 2026 under Trump’s tax law, the IRS says.
One sentence on the IRS page that reopens the account
The IRS provisions page, last reviewed Sept. 25, puts the change plainly: starting Jan. 1, 2026, bronze and catastrophic health insurance plans are treated as HSA-compatible. The page files it under section 71307 of the 2025 law and calls the law the Working Families Tax Cuts.
The wording matters because an HSA has always required a specific kind of coverage. A person needs a qualifying high-deductible health plan to put money into the account, and many bronze plans and catastrophic plans did not meet the general definition. The provision removes that barrier for those two plan types.
Compatible even when the plan misses the usual definition
The Treasury Department and IRS spelled out the mechanics in release IR-2025-119, issued Dec. 9, 2025 alongside Notice 2026-05. Effective Jan. 1, 2026, the release says, bronze and catastrophic plans available through an Exchange are considered HSA-compatible, regardless of whether the plans satisfy the general definition of a high-deductible health plan.
The release adds a detail that matters for shoppers who buy outside the marketplace: the plans need not be purchased through an Exchange to qualify for the new relief. A bronze plan bought directly from an insurer therefore is not shut out of the change on that ground alone.
The IRS asked for comments on the guidance by March 6, 2026, through Regulations.gov or by mail. The release quotes no individual official.
Telehealth and primary-care fees arrived in the same package
The same section of the law carries two smaller changes. On telehealth, the IRS says remote care services can be received before meeting a high-deductible plan’s deductible, and people can still contribute to an HSA after using telehealth first. That rule is permanent for plan years starting on or after Jan. 1, 2025.
On direct primary care, the provisions page says participants may use HSA funds tax-free to pay periodic direct primary care fees beginning Jan. 1, 2026. The December release adds that eligible individuals enrolled in certain direct primary care arrangements may contribute to HSAs, and it specifies no monthly cap on the fees.
The telehealth safe harbor reaches back a year earlier than the plan change, to plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2025, so the two rules run on different clocks. The provisions page and the December release agree on every date: Jan. 1, 2026 for the bronze, catastrophic and direct primary care changes, and Jan. 1, 2025 for telehealth, with no later phase-in described for any of them.
Where the change lands for people not yet on Medicare
Bronze and catastrophic plans are bought mostly by people under 65, so the new eligibility is most relevant for early retirees and older workers between employer coverage and Medicare. Bronze plans carry lower premiums and higher deductibles than richer tiers, which is the same trade an HSA is built around, and the change lets those buyers pair the lower premium with a tax-advantaged account.
The tax-free label in the headline refers to how an HSA is treated under the tax code: contributions, growth and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses each receive favorable treatment, which is why the account is prized by people planning for health costs in retirement. Those mechanics are unchanged by the new law. What changed is which coverage opens the door, and the direct primary care provision extends the tax-free withdrawal to a category of fees that some account holders pay every month.
The boundary is Medicare. HSA contributions generally stop once a person is enrolled in Medicare, a rule laid out in IRS Publication 969, the agency’s guide to health savings accounts. A reader nearing 65 who buys a bronze plan for the HSA has a limited window, and neither IRS release addresses Medicare enrollment.
What the IRS pages do not settle
The pages read for this article give the effective date and the plan types but no contribution limit for 2027 and no rule about how a marketplace plan is labeled at enrollment. No annual maximum appears in them, so none is given here, and the limits are announced separately each year.
Trade coverage of the guidance, such as a PLANADVISER report on the IRS rules for HSAs in bronze and catastrophic plans, is aimed at benefit administrators and carries technical detail that the provisions page summarizes in a line. A person weighing a plan can confirm with the insurer or marketplace that it is HSA-compatible before enrolling.
The December release remains the IRS’s clearest statement: effective Jan. 1, 2026, bronze and catastrophic plans available through an Exchange are considered HSA-compatible, and the plans need not be bought through an Exchange to qualify.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
