Health Savings Accounts (HSA)–often coupled with a high-deductible plan–have become quite popular with employers in recent years. In many places they’ve replaced traditional employer insurance offerings as they pass more healthcare costs on to the employee. They can be beneficial to the employees to as they can take the HSA with them if they leave for a new job and can use it as a place to save money for health expenses as retirement. In fact, if you start saving in an HSA early in your career and invest properly (yes, you can invest a chunk of your HSA) you could have a hefty number in there by the time you retire. Could you image having an HSA available to cover your medical expenses in retirement and not having to tap your IRA Or 401(k)? Now, back to the CARES Act. The CARES Act, known officially as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, contains some parts that also impact HSAs, along with your retirement accounts. One example is that the legislation temporarily allows for a health plan to provide coverage for telehealth services and other remote care services that do not meet regular deductible requirements. Under normal circumstances, your health plan cannot waive the deductible for medical expenses not considered to be preventative. Another big change is that you can now take tax-free distributions from your HSA to pay for a wider range of medical expenses, including over-the-counter medicines and other medical costs. This is a permanent change and is not temporary. Of course, I would encourage you to check to make sure whatever you plan to spend your HSA money on is qualified. I also encourage you to think long and hard about whether using HSA to buy something like, say, allergy medicine, is really worth it (hint: it probably isn’t worth it). It’s still good to know that these changes exist and to know that you can take care of things like telehealth services without worrying about whether you meet deductible requirements.