By Jerry Geisel, Crain News Service
CHICAGO (May 14, 2014) — Enrollment in health savings accounts (HSAs) continues to surge as more employers are moving to consumer-driven health care plans, according to Fidelity Investments.
Fidelity said in a statement that the number of HSAs it administered in 2013 jumped to 269,000, up nearly 48 percent compared with 182,000 in 2012 and a 126 percent increase over 2011, when Fidelity administered 119,000 HSAs.
“Fidelity continues to drive adoption of its health savings account business as companies and their employees realize their potential advantages both today and over the long haul,” Will Applegate, a Fidelity vice president in Boston, said in the statement.
Numerous surveys have found that the cost of high-deductible consumer-driven healthcare plans (CDHPs) linked to HSAs are less costly compared with other healthcare plans.
For example, a survey last year by Mercer L.L.C. found that the cost of coverage in CDHPs with HSAs is about 20 percent lower, on average, than the cost of preferred provider organization coverage—$8,482 per employee compared with $10,196 per employee for preferred provider organization coverage.
That cost difference will become even more important starting in 2018, when a healthcare reform law provision that imposes a 40 percent excise tax on healthcare plan costs exceeding $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage kicks in.
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This report appeared on businessinsurance.com, the website of Crain's Business Insurance magazine, a Chicago-based sister publication of Tire Business.
