U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order during an event in The Villages, Florida, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019.

A little-used Medicare option is getting a big push from the White House.

An executive order signed on Thursday by President Donald Trump includes a call for expanding access to medical savings accounts, or MSAs. While details are thin, the move echoes other efforts by the administration geared at making tax-advantaged savings options more readily available to Medicare recipients.

Broadly, the executive order is about bolstering Advantage Plans, which are used by about 36% — 22 million — of Medicare's 60.8 million beneficiaries.

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These plans, offered through private insurance companies, deliver Medicare Part A (hospital coverage) and Part B (outpatient care) benefits and often extras such as limited dental and vision coverage. They also typically include Part D prescription drug coverage.

While the use of Advantage Plans has been steadily rising, a small fraction of Medicare beneficiaries — about 6,000 — are estimated to use MSA plans, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Generally, this option combines a high-deductible Advantage Plan with an MSA.

It is similar to the better-known health savings account, or HSA, which also can only be used in conjunction with high-deductible health plans — a common offering among employers. For 2019, that's one with a deductible of at least $1,350 for an individual and $2,700 for a family, with maximum annual out-of-pocket costs (not counting premiums) of no more than $6,750 and $13,500, respectively. That excludes out-of-network costs.