Hardship for Health Insurance Premiums

[austin3515]

Medical care under 213(d) is defined as:

(1) The term “medical care” means amounts paid—
(A) for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or for the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body,

(B) for transportation primarily for and essential to medical care referred to in subparagraph (A),

© for qualified long-term care services (as defined in section 7702B ©), or

(D) for insurance (including amounts paid as premiums under part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act, relating to supplementary medical insurance for the aged) covering medical care referred to in subparagraphs (A) and (B) or for any qualified long-term care insurance contract (as defined in section 7702B (b)).

So just to be clear because I have actually never come across this. An employee needs to pay premiums for a spouse's insurance policy (or perhaps to pay his or her own premiums while out on an unpaid leave). Is this eligible for hardship?

I seriously did not expect to ever learn anything new about hardship distributions!

[Peter Gulia]

Without expressing any conclusion:

The regulations state: "A financial need may be immediate and heavy even if it was reasonably foreseeable or voluntarily incurred by the employee." 26 C.F.R. 1.401(k)-1©(3)(iii)(A).

And the first of the deemed heavy needs refers to "[e]xpenses for (or necessary to obtain) medical care[.]" 26 C.F.R. 1.401(k)-1©(3)(iii)(B)(1).

Might a plan's administrator reason that, for a non-wealthy person, having health coverage is necessary to obtain non-emergency medical care?