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Life Health > Health Insurance > HSAs

Bill Could Throw HSA Money to the Dogs (and Cats)

By Allison Bell

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Two House members want to make health savings account and flexible spending account cash available to Americans’ fur babies.

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., last week introduced H.R. 9508, the People and Animals Well-being Act of 2024.

If the bill is passed and implemented as written, a taxpayer could classify up to $1,000 in veterinary care expenses per year as “amounts paid for medical care.” The change would let a taxpayer use up to $1,000 in HSA or FSA cash per year to pay pet health care bills and $1,000 per year to pay for pet health insurance.

The bill has at least some bipartisan appeal: Rep. Deborah Ross, D-N.C., has signed on as a co-sponsor.

What it means: Congress could throw clients who own pets a bone.

Veterinary expenses: About 87 million U.S. households, or 66% of the total, own a pet, according to an American Pet Products Association survey.

The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that 45% of pet-owning U.S. households have dogs, 26%, cats; 2.7%, fish; 2.5%, birds; 1.4%, reptiles; 1.3%, gerbils; and 1.2%, rabbits.

Fewer than 1% keep chickens, horses, pigs or ferrets as pets.

Annual veterinary spending averages $367 for households with dogs and $253 for households with cats.

About 43% of U.S. men and 57% of U.S. women consider their pets to be as much a part of their families as the human members are, according to 2023 Pew Research Center survey data.

Bill details: The PAW Act bill would use the definition of “pet” given in section 12502(b)(9)(D) of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.

That provision defines the word to mean “a domesticated animal, such as a dog, cat, bird, rodent, fish, turtle or other animal that is kept for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes.”

The bill would not affect the status of service animals that help people with disabilities. Federal law already lets taxpayers use HSA and FSA money to for care for service animals.

Reactions: The American Veterinary Medical Association and MetLife’s pet insurance business are supporting the bill.

The bill will help “pet parents access the care their pets need while protecting their financial wellness,” Brian Jorgensen, MetLife’s pet insurance head, said.

Credit: Shutterstock

Allison Bell

Think_Allison

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