You are referring to the question near the end of the HSA interview: "What type of High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) did [name] have on December 1, 2017?" If you answered either "Family" or "Self", then on the next screen you received a question "Did [name]'s High Deductible Health Plan coverage lapse in 2018 due to a disability?" Both the "yes" and "no" answers presume that the coverage has ended.
TurboTax is asking the first question because it needs to know if you took advantage of the "last-month rule" in 2017. Under this rule, if you had HDHP coverage on December 1, 2017, you were able to take the full annual HSA contribution limit as your limit, without regard to how few months you may have been under the HDHP in 2017. The catch is that if you do this, you have to stay in the HDHP for the entire "testing period", that is, all of 2018 (by this point, TurboTax already thinks that you didn't have HDHP coverage for part or all of 2018).
In this case, if you did leave HDHP coverage in 2018, then you will have a "failure to maintain HDHP coverage", and TurboTax has to calculate the income adjustments and penalties for this situation.
In your situation, TurboTax thinks that you had a lapse in coverage. We have several workarounds:
1. If you were in HDHP coverage for ALL of 2017, then you can answer "none" to the question "Was [name] covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) in 2017?" This will skip the lapse in coverage message.
2. If you were not under HDHP coverage at all in 2017, then you can answer "none" to the same question above. This will skip the lapse in coverage message.
3. If you were in HDHP coverage for ALL of 2108, then you can answer "none" to the question above. This will skip the lapse in coverage message.
4. If you made no HSA contributions in 2017, then you can answer "none" to the question above. This will skip the lapse in coverage message.
5. Only if you started HDHP sometime after January 1, 2017 and ended HDHP coverage sometime before December 1, 2018 should you answer "Family" or "Self" - since you are in the very last-month rule situation that the original question is looking for.
For #5, there will be several screens to follow which try to determine if you owe any penalty for taking advantage of the last-month rule in 2017 yet did not stay in the HDHP for all of 2018. Please do answer these questions as they are necessary to complete a correct return.
