A new U.S. House bill that has bipartisan support would provide a way for seniors to help cope with escalating health-care expenses. H.R. 5958, the Senior Health Planning Account Act, would enable older Americans to do a tax-free rollover of some or all of the proceeds from the sale of their life insurance policies to fund senior health planning accounts (SHPAs).
The accounts would operate much like health savings accounts (HSAs), which are mostly offered through employers and aren’t available to individuals who are enrolled in Medicare. Seniors would be able to use the accounts and any earnings that accumulate in them to pay for qualified medical expenses, including long-term care.
Seniors—the population with the highest health-care costs—are the only group of Americans that have no tax incentive to save for their health care in retirement, said Michael Freedman, CEO of Lighthouse Life, a life insurance settlement company, and chair of the public policy council at the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA).
This article originally appeared on Financial Advisor.