Healthcare vs. financial POA—what’s the difference?

A healthcare POA covers your body; a financial POA covers your money. They’re separate documents with separate powers, and you can cancel each one independently. Here’s what each actually lets your agent do, and how to tell which one you signed.

Healthcare POA (a.k.a. medical POA, healthcare proxy)

Lets your agent:

• Talk to your doctors and see your medical records (this is how parents keep HIPAA access after you turn 18)
• Make treatment decisions if you can’t—or, depending on the wording, participate even when you can
• Choose facilities, approve procedures, access mental-health and reproductive-health information

If your parents can still call your campus health center or therapist and get answers, a healthcare POA (or a signed HIPAA authorization) is usually why.

Financial POA

Lets your agent:

• Access and move money in your bank accounts
• File your taxes, manage investments, deal with your landlord
• Sign contracts and documents in your name

A financial POA on file at your bank means the bank treats your agent almost like an account holder.

The modifier words: durable, general, limited

• Durable—stays in effect even if you become incapacitated. Most parent-arranged POAs are durable; the title usually says so.
• General—broad authority, often covering both financial and personal matters in one document.
• Limited / special—one specific purpose (sell one car, manage one account) and often one time period.

How to tell which one you signed

Look at the title on the first page—“Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care,” “General Durable Power of Attorney,” etc. It genuinely is that straightforward. If you signed several pages in one sitting, you may have signed both kinds (plus a HIPAA release). If you can’t check the document, our form has a “not sure” path—choosing General still produces a valid revocation of the document you describe.

One more thing: revoking one doesn’t revoke the other

Because they’re separate grants of power, each needs its own revocation. If you signed both a healthcare and a financial POA and want both gone, that’s two revocation documents—same simple process each time.