Launched in 1995, OptumHealth Bank now reports that deposits in its health savings accounts topped $1 billion and the accounts grew by 18% to nearly 600,000 individual accounts within the last year.
"Consumer-focused plans continue to grow in appeal as more people seek smart ways to plan, save and pay for their health care needs,"says Chad Wilkins, CEO of OptumHealth Financial Services, the parent company of OptumHealth Bank. According to the company, a 2009 survey found that 82% of HSA participants are satisfied with their accounts.
Research by the trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans revealed that Americans covered by HSA-eligible health plans jumped from just over 1 million in 2005 to 10 million in 2010.
Some health care experts assert that HSAs will gain in popularity because of the health reform law, which requires all individuals to carry health insurance by 2014.
Employers, however, embrace the accounts in their high-deducible health plans to stem rising health care costs. Most employers believe their health care costs will increase due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
To help employers understand the nuts and bolts of HSAs, HealthEquity, a health care financial services company, recently rolled out its fourth edition of "The Complete HSA Guidebook, How to Make Health Savings Accounts Work for You."
The book discusses how HSAs work and the laws and regulations that govern the accounts, including how the new health reform law will affect the accounts and latest HSA-related guidelines by the Internal Revenue Service.
Histrionically, large and small employers have gravitated toward HSAs, but during this post-reform environment more mid-sized employers are expressing interests in HSAs, says Dr. Stephen Neeleman, CEO of HealthEquity and the book’s co-author.
Neeleman believes the nation will continue to see an uptick in HSA owners, given that the health reform law really didn’t address rising health care costs and it didn’t adopt measures that would decrease the number of HSA participants.
"Now that health care reform has passed, health savings accounts are only going to increase in importance," says Joe Jackson, CEO of WageWorks.
WageWorks and HSA Bank announced last month that they are teaming up to offer a new type of HSA. According to the companies’ officials, the new account has no minimum balance requirement that has to be met before funds can be invested in a trading account or mutual fund.
In addition, account holders can select various investments and savings options, ranging from an FDIC-insured interest bearing account, a low-fee trading account, or a collection of 12 pre-selected no-load mutual funds.
