I see that the acronym SERMA is most often associated with Intel's IRMP program, which retirees can use to help pay for health insurance premiums after retirement.
If you indeed retired from Intel, then I suggest that you try the following: contact "the employer's insurance person" (the one that spoke to your husband) and persuade them to contact the HSA administrator on your behalf to accept the return of the distributions for the insurance premiums as "mistaken distributions". dmertz is correct that the HSA administrator is not required to accept the request; however, the fact that Intel must have a significant relationship with the HSA custodian ought to give Intel some leverage with the HSA administrator (I assume that the HSA for you was set up while at Intel and that HSA contributions are made through Intel). At the least, the insurance person who gave you the bad advice should feel motivated to give it a try to make up for the error.
After all, this is just a little paperwork for an HSA administrator who has a large contract with a mega-corporation, but it's a big deal for you. Give it a chance.
