Health Savings Accounts: a tax-sheltered way to pay for quackery

[Major Nikon]

77. I have no doubt that you are correct

HSA's were intended to bridge the gap between covered and non-covered medically related treatments. I have no doubt they are generally used for legitimate treatments.

However, coverage is already selective. I can't use my HSA to pay for a gym membership even though exercise has proven health benefits. I can use my HSA to pay for someone to pray for me even though this is quackery by any reasonable definition. I can't use my HSA to pay for homeopathy, specifically because it's quackery. So there already is an attempt to eliminate quackery. The only question is which ones don't make the cut and that most certainly is a subject of public policy debate, especially when there is a concerted effort to include more forms of quackery. If it were simply a matter of getting a doctor to sign off on it, then we should be able to write off the cost of a fishing boat so long as a doctor agrees it's a health benefit. There has to be some sort of regulatory limitation.