Calley Means on Using HSA/FSA Dollars for Food and Exercise: recommends

Calley Means recommends spending tax-free HSA and FSA dollars on healthy food, gym memberships, exercise programs, and supplements — the signature playbook of Truemed, the wellness-payments company he co-founded. The mechanism: consumers obtain a letter of medical necessity from a doctor (Truemed arranged this via telehealth providers), then use pre-tax health-savings funds to pay for lifestyle expenses, saving an estimated 30–40%.

He told TechCrunch in September 2023 that the goal is to “incentivize metabolic habits: food, exercise, the food movement, sleep and supplements, to stay healthy” — framing preventive lifestyle spending as medicine. On The Model Health Show (Episode 797), he walked through the model in more detail.

The approach has drawn criticism. CSPI’s Peter Lurie has warned that Truemed-style HSA steering “ends up favoring these products and services that rest on flimsy grounds,” and Means’s own $25–50M Truemed stake during his HHS service drew congressional scrutiny (see the Truemed divestment page). This position is recorded with the criticism included, under the site’s for-and-against policy.

What Means says

• Means says consumers should spend tax-free HSA/FSA dollars on healthy food, gym memberships, exercise, and supplements.
• He says a doctor’s letter of medical necessity makes food and exercise count as medical expenses.
• He told TechCrunch the goal is to “incentivize metabolic habits” — food, exercise, sleep, and supplements — as preventive medicine.

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