United Pilots Retiree Health Account and Medical Costs

A triple tax-free benefit United Pilots have available to us - our retiree health account- the RHA. This investment account is one of the greatest tax-favored accounts a person can have. The trifecta of tax benefits: money goes in tax free, it grows tax free and when used to pay qualified medical expenses when you leave United,  it comes out tax free.  This is huge, but it does not come without one possibly big drawback, and that is it’s a use it or lose it account.  You Need to use it during your, your spouse’s or your dependent child’s lifetime. What you don’t use remains in the VEBA trust.  So the two big things to know about the RHA – how much might have and how long will it take to spend it down? And a big part of that is knowing what your Health care costs will be in retirement.