For retirees, health-care costs represent a huge expense, even with support from Medicare. But with health savings accounts, also known as HSAs, you can save money now that you can use at any time for the rest of your life to pay medical expenses.
In the following video, Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool's director of investment planning, looks at HSAs and how they can help you in retirement. Dan notes that HSAs are available to those with high-deductible health plans, which have become much more popular both among employers and under Obamacare. Dan points out that the benefit of health savings accounts is that HSA contributions are deductible upfront, but as long as you use the money for medical expenses, distributions are tax-free. Moreover, HSAs are available to tap even before retirement for medical costs, although Dan notes that to get maximum advantages from HSAs, it pays to leave them as long as possible to grow tax-free.
