Health Savings Accounts

Health savings accounts have mixed effects on healthcare spending, use

April 15, 2024 - Health savings account (HSA) plan enrollment did not impact overall healthcare spending but reduced the use of outpatient services, according to data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) introduced high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and created HSAs....

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Cash Payments Could Help Medicaid Beneficiaries Obtain Better Coverage

by Kelsey Waddill

Cash payments that phase out based on income could allow Medicaid beneficiaries to shift away from low-quality care under safety net healthcare coverage to higher-quality care through private payer...

83% of Consumers Are Interested in Health Savings Accounts for Non-HDHPs

by Kelsey Waddill

Many consumers would be interested in a type of account that was like a health savings account (HSA) in its construction but able to be attached to plans other than high deductible health plans...

Employees Turn to Health Savings Accounts to Manage Healthcare Costs

by Kelsey Waddill

Employees—particularly in younger generations—are investing in health savings accounts to manage their healthcare spending and find their employer-sponsored health plans are not enough to...

High Deductible Health Plan Enrollment Hit Record High in 2021

by Kelsey Waddill

High deductible health plan (HDHP) enrollment hit a record high in 2021, with nearly six out of ten employer-sponsored health plan members enrolled in a high deductible health plan, according to a...

Health Savings Account Balances, Contributions Grew in 2021

by Victoria Bailey

The average health savings account (HSA) balance increased in 2021, with most account holders contributing more money than they withdrew, according to a report from the Employee Research Benefit...

Deductibles, Copayments, OOP Max Trends Indicate Cost-Sharing Growth

by Kelsey Waddill

From 2013 to 2020, cost-sharing trends shifted: deductibles grew, copayments increased for certain services and depending on union employment, and out-of-pocket healthcare spending maximums rose,...

Employees Lack Health Insurance Enrollment Knowledge, Support

by Kelsey Waddill

While many employees consider themselves knowledgeable about health insurance enrollment, their responses to various questions about general health insurance questions would indicate otherwise,...

Health Savings Accounts Do Not Control Enrollee Healthcare Spending

by Kelsey Waddill

Health savings accounts were designed to create a more healthcare cost-conscious populace, but research indicates that these plans may fail to support that goal, according to an analysis published in...

Pre-Deductible Coverage Expansion in HSAs Might Slightly Boost Premiums

by Kelsey Waddill

Expanding the services that are eligible for pre-deductible coverage in a health savings account (HSA) health plan would slightly boost premiums, experts found in an EBRI Issue Brief. In 2019, IRS...

9 Employer Best Practices for High Deductible Health Plan Design

by Kelsey Waddill

Employers are exploring ways to promote effective high deductible health plan benefits utilization among members, as noted in a report from the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) and...

What Are the Pros and Cons of Consumer Driven Health Plans?

by Editorial Staff

Payers have been extending their consumer-driven health plans, also called consumer-directed health plans or CDHPs, as a way to encourage health plan enrollment and save on healthcare costs. Many...

The Status of High Deductible Health Plans with Savings Option

by Kelsey Waddill

Updated 11/22/2021:  This article has been updated to correct a statistic in order to indicate that large firms on average contributed $16,132 to the employee premium and $937 to each...

How Payers Use Chronic Disease Management Flexibilities in HSAs

by Kelsey Waddill

Pre-deductible coverage for chronic disease management through a health savings account is a widespread practice among health plans which may require policymakers to enact regulatory changes in order...

WI Submits Medicaid Demonstration Waiver, Health Savings Account Program

by Hannah Nelson

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has submitted an amendment to their section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver “BadgerCare Reform” for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...

Employer Sponsored 2020 Out-of-Pocket Costs Were Stable Pre-COVID

by Kelsey Waddill

Employer-sponsored health plans grew more expensive for individuals and families in 2020, the Employer Health Benefits annual Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) survey found. “Conducted partly...

High Deductible Health Plan Enrollees Need Better HSA Education

by Kelsey Waddill

Although health savings accounts are an important tool for enrollees in high deductible health plans, a large percentage of enrollees in these plans either do not have health savings accounts or do not...

Employers Seek the Best Healthcare Benefits, Prefer HMOs and PPOs

by Kelsey Waddill

As more employers seek to offer the best healthcare benefits to their employees, they are focusing on quality and a diverse set of plans, which tends to lead them toward HMOs and PPOs according to a...

Health Savings Accounts Help Gen Z Manage High Healthcare Costs

by Kelsey Waddill

High healthcare costs are keeping young adults from saving for the future, recent data from CITE Research, commissioned by Lively, shows, making the case for health savings accounts...

How Employers Can Raise Financial Wellness and Health Literacy

by Kelsey Waddill

Twice as many employers are offering workplace financial wellness programs in 2019 than in 2018, yet financial and health literacy still leave something to be desired, revealed a Bank of America...

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