TruMed allows tax-free HSA spending on lifestyle prevention

TruMed, co-founded and led by Justin Mayers, operates a platform that allows individuals to spend tax-free Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account dollars on lifestyle interventions. These include exercise, food supplements, and sleep aids from providers such as 8 Sleep and Peloton. The service requires users to be working to treat, reverse, or prevent a specific disease and to have a doctor's note, aligning with IRS rules that permit these expenditures for qualified medical purposes. Mayers argues that the current US healthcare system is broken because 90% of spending goes toward managing chronic conditions while less than 3% goes toward prevention. He cites an example where a person with type 2 diabetes costs the system an average of $3 million to manage over their lifetime, whereas no one is incentivized to spend money preventing the condition. TruMed aims to lower friction and increase affordability for these preventive measures. Mayers asserts that if every American maxed out their HSA for such interventions, it would change the trajectory of American healthcare.