Rolling Over a Health Savings Account

Can I roll over a health savings account to another institution or have more than one HSA? How long do I need to keep documents showing that distributions were used for medical expenses? --G.J., Frederick, Md.

See Also: FAQs About Health Savings Accounts

HSA money can be rolled from one administrator to another, and you can have more than one HSA as long as your total contributions for the year aren't more than $3,300 for individual coverage or $6,550 for family coverage (plus $1,000 if you are 55 or older). Keep your current account active if your employer contributes to it, even if you add another account. The new administrator can help with the transfer.

Withdrawals for eligible medical expenses are tax-free at any age. You don't need to show the provider receipts to get the money, but for tax purposes, you must keep the records with your tax files. (You can generally be audited for up to three years after the tax-filing deadline.)

Got a question? Ask Kim at askkim@kiplinger.com.

Powerade drops controversial ingredient

NEW YORK (AP) — Coca-Cola is dropping a controversial ingredient from its Powerade sports drink, after a similar move by PepsiCo's Gatorade last year.

The ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, had been the target of a petition by a Mississippi teenager, who questioned why it was being used in a drink marketed toward health-conscious athletes. The petition on Change.org noted that the ingredient is linked to a flame retardant and is not approved for use in Japan or the European Union.

In response to customer feedback, PepsiCo said last year it would drop the ingredient from Gatorade. At the time, Coca-Cola declined to say whether it would remove the ingredient from the two flavors of Powerade that contain it as well.

But this week, bottles of Powerade in fruit punch and strawberry lemonade flavors being sold in the Detroit, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska, New York and Washington, D.C. areas no longer list the ingredient. Some bottles still list it, however, suggesting Coca-Cola may have started phasing it out recently.

A representative for the Atlanta-based company confirmed Sunday that its Powerade brands are "BVO-free." But no details were immediately available on when the change would be complete or how the drinks were reformulated.

Powerade's website still lists brominated vegetable oil as an ingredient for its fruit punch and strawberry lemonade flavors.

The Food and Drug Administration says brominated vegetable oil is used as a stabilizer for flavoring oils in fruit-flavored drinks. Coca-Cola has said in the past that it uses it to "improve stability and prevent certain ingredients from separating."

The decision by Coca-Cola to remove brominated vegetable oil from Powerade is just the latest evidence that food makers are coming under pressure for the ingredients they use. While companies stand by the safety of their products, some are making changes in response to the movement toward foods that people believe are natural.

Earlier this year, for instance, ! Subway said it would remove an ingredient dubbed the "yoga mat chemical" from its breads. The ingredient, azodicarbonamide, is approved for use by the FDA and can be found in a wide variety of breads. The petitioner, Vani Hari of FoodBabe.com, said she targeted Subway because of its image for serving healthy food.

Likewise, brominated vegetable oil can also be found in several other drinks.

But the Mississippi teenager, Sarah Kavanagh, said she targeted Gatorade and Powerade in petitions because they're designed for athletes, who are likely more concerned about what they're putting into their bodies. Her Powerade petition had more than 59,000 online supporters while the Gatorade one had more than 200,000.

As Americans cut back on soda, sports drinks have become more important for Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which is based in Purchase, New York.

Although Coca-Cola has long dominated rival PepsiCo on the soda front, it lags the company in the growing sports drink category. According to the industry tracker Beverage Digest, Gatorade has 64% of the sports drink market.

Follow Candice Choi on Twitter @candicechoi