Over 1 Million Now Covered By HSAs

Lower premium HSA plans are an important option, particularly for people who might have trouble paying for other types of coverage, Ignagni says, adding that the survey response showed 37% of individual policies were purchased by those who had been previously uninsured. Of the policies sold in the small group market, 27% were sold to employers who did not offer coverage prior to the HSA plan purchase.

HSAs were created by Congress in late 2003 as part of the Medicare drug bill, with subsequent guidance on the specifics of how the plans should work issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

“Most of these plans rely on networks of doctors and hospitals to give consumers access to the same kinds of negotiated discounts available to participants in other health insurance plans, stretching the consumers’ health care dollar and increasing the value of the HSA-eligible plan,” Ignagni says.

HSAs already have outperformed their predecessors, Ignagni notes. Only 40,000 of the prior incarnation, known as Medical Savings Accounts, were established in their first year of availability, and HSAs already have achieved in a year market penetration MSAs did not reach in a decade.