topic Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense? in Deductions & credits

Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

jbren57 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:05:57 GMT

turbo tax asks this question and by rule, cobra payments can be made with hsa funds

Re: Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

Mike9241 — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 05:38:55 GMT

it's a qualified expenditure

from IRS PUB 969 HSAportion

Insurance premiums. You can’t treat insurance premiums
as qualified medical expenses unless the premiums
are for any of the following.
1.
2. Health care continuation coverage (such as coverage
under COBRA).

Re: Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

jbren57 — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:45:56 GMT

Thank you!

Re: Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

Helper82468ASD — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 20:56:37 GMT

There are limits on how much you can withdraw from the HSA to pay for insurance premiums.

See https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf

40 or under $ 480
41–50 $ 890
51–60 $ 1,790
61–70 $ 4,770
71 or older $ 5,960

Re: Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

dmertz — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 22:12:29 GMT

@Helper82468ASD , you seem to be confusing long-term care premiums with COBRA. There is no limit on the amount of COBRA premiums that can be paid from the HSA.

Re: Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

Helper82468ASD — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:04:38 GMT

Thank you, @dmertz. I found it difficult to find information on COBRA premiums with HSA. If you have any links to IRS documentation or otherwise it would be most helpful. Is "long-term care premium" the charges incurred from medical bills?

Re: Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

xmasbaby0 — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:39:57 GMT

@Helper82468ASD This thread began with a user who wanted to know about using medical bills paid from a HSA as medical expenses. If you paid a medical bill using the pretax HSA funds you had, you cannot "double dip" and also put those same medical expenses on a Schedule A as itemized medical expenses.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2895072-can-i-deduct-medical-costs-paid-through-my-hsa-or-msa

Re: Is hsa money used for cobra payments considered a medical expense?

dmertz — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 03:32:27 GMT

26 U.S. Code § 223(d)(2)(C)(i) essentially says that a payment for a health plan during any period of continuation coverage required under any Federal law is a qualified medical expense payable with a distribution from an HSA. COBRA is such coverage.

Long-term care insurance is something different, defined in 26 U.S. Code § 7702B(b).