Assets in health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), two relatively new health plan options, have grown in recent years, totaling $7.1 billion in 2009, up from $835.4 million three years earlier.
A recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that, in addition to the increase in assets, the number of accounts in these plans, known as consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), also was up during the same period — totaling 5 million in 2009, up from 1.2 million in 2006.
The plans first became available in 2001, when a handful of plan sponsors offered health reimbursement arrangements, a type of health plan that reimburses workers for qualified medical expenses. In 2004, health savings accounts emerged, a type of tax-exempt trust or custodial account that an individual can use to pay for health care expenses.