Washington, D.C.- New legislation introduced in the U.S. House by Reps. Darin LaHood, Brendan Boyle, John Curtis, and Josh Gottheimer would expand health savings accounts (HSA), health reimbursement arrangements (HRA), and flexible spending accounts (FSA) to cover dietary supplements.
“Expanding fair access to good nutrition would be a major step in keeping more Americans healthy, leading to better outcomes and lower costs versus disease treatment and management. Our public health policy needs to shift more towards prevention, especially as health care costs continue to soar,” said Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., President, and CEO of NPA.
- According to available data, 95 percent of adults and 98 percent of teens have an inadequate vitamin D intake and 61 percent of adults and 90 percent of teens do not get enough magnesium.
- According to a survey of 2,000 Americans found that 65% exercised less during the pandemic.
“NPA has led the effort to unify industry support for the Boyle-LaHood legislation. In 2022, NPA’s board of directors asked AHPA, CRN, CHPA, and UNPA to join the effort while establishing grassroots campaigns that generated thousands of communications to Capitol Hill. As we build momentum and additional support for this proposal, we will work closely with congressional leadership to strengthen the legislation. We are grateful for Reps. LaHood, Boyle, Curtis, and Gottheimer for being champions of better nutrition for our nation and for those of us who represent the millions of Americans who enjoy, sell, distribute, and manufacture these important products.”
The NPA has long supported expanding access to dietary supplements working with several members of Congress to push the IRS to revise Publication 502 to allow dietary supplements to be considered medical expenses under HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs. The NPA has initiated its grassroots campaign, which can be found here, urging all health and wellness advocates to write their members of Congress asking that they support legislation expanding access to dietary supplements through HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs.