Amends existing law to include health care sharing ministries as an eligible medical expense.

This legislation would provide that Health Care Sharing Ministry (HCSM) expenses are eligible medical expenses for Medical Savings Accounts (MSA). In Idaho, MSAs enable Idahoans to receive tax deduction benefits for up to $10,000 of health related expenses paid out of their Medical Savings Account. Under current Idaho law, citizens can only use their MSA for eligible medical, vision, and dental expenses (as defined by the Internal Revenue Code), along with health insurance and supplemental Medicare premiums and long-term care expenses. Due to the fact that HCSMs are not insurance companies and are not as well known, the tax code does not explicitly address their status. Currently, Idaho HCSM members are unable to utilize an MSA for HCSM expenses that serve a similar purpose to insurance premiums. Members of HCSMs financially assist fellow members with large medical expenses rendering a result usually provided by health insurance. However, their costs do not have tax parity with health insurance premiums. Like health insurance policyholders, members of HCSMs make payments that go toward assisting fellow members with medical expenses. Share fees paid to HCSMs are also not tax deductible, even though HCSMs are nonprofit organizations, due to the possibility of those funds being used on the member’s own health expenses.