The percentage of U.S. group health plan sponsors that offer health savings accounts (HSAs) or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) may have fallen in 2010.
Paul Fronstin, a researcher at the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), Washington, has published figures supporting that conclusion in an analysis of responses to a consumer survey EBRI helped organize in 2010 and similar surveys EBRI helped organize in earlier years.
Fronstin found that 5% of U.S. adults with private health insurance in 2010 had an HRA or a high-deductible plan with an HSA, up from 4% in 2009.
But the percentage of consumers with employment-based health benefits who reported being offered either a “consumer-driven health plan” incorporating an HSA or a HRA or a high-deductible plan with no built-in health account feature fell to 38% in 2010, down from 39% in 2009 and a peak of 40% in 2008.