| News from Washington |
| Reps. Cammack, Steube Introduce ACCESS Act to Make HSAs Available to Millions of Americans Congresswoman Kat Cammack (R-FL-03) and Congressman Greg Steube (R-FL-17) introduced a fiscally conservative plan to make HSAs available to five million lower-income Americans. The bill would allow individuals to elect to receive contributions to an HSA in lieu of reduced cost-sharing under health insurance obtained through a health insurance exchange. Read More |
| Moolenaar-Sponsored Bill Ends HSA Waiting Period for Native Americans Native Americans who are regularly treated at Indian Health Service facilities would receive improved access to HSAs under bipartisan legislation proposed by Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI). If enacted, H.R. 5546 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to permit individuals eligible for Indian Health Service assistance to qualify for HSAs without a waiting period. Read More |
| Biden Administration to Ban Medical Debt From Americans’ Credit Scores The Biden administration announced a major initiative to protect Americans from medical debt, outlining plans to develop federal rules barring unpaid medical bills from affecting patients’ credit scores. The regulations, if enacted, would eliminate information that can depress consumers’ scores and make it harder for many to get a job, rent an apartment, or secure a car loan. Read More |
| HSA Studies & Analysis |
| HSA Industry Reaches $116 Billion in Assets Aided by positive stock market gains, HSA assets saw strong growth in the first half of 2023, while increase in the total number distinct HSA accounts has slowed, according to new data from Devenir. At the midyear point of 2023, Devenir reported $116 billion in HSA assets held in almost 36 million accounts, a year-over-year increase of 17% for assets and 6% for accounts. Read More |
| 2023 Midyear Devenir HSA Research Report HSA account holders contributed $29 billion to their accounts in the first half of 2023 (up 11% from the year prior) and withdrew $21 billion from their accounts during the first half of 2023 (up 16% from the year prior). We predict that the HSA market will exceed 40 million accounts by the end of 2025, holding more than $150 billion in assets. Read More |
| Top 20 HSA Market Concentration – 2023 Midyear Update Prior research by Devenir found that the HSA market has become more concentrated over time as the largest providers have continued to gain market share through a combination of organic growth and M&A activity. Using more recent data, Devenir found a modest increase in market concentration among the top 5 providers from a year ago, up to 70% from 69% in 2022. Read More |
| HSA Compliance Corner |
| What’s Does It Mean to ‘Decouple’ HSAs? Among people who seek to expand the HSA opportunity to more Americans, the concept of decoupling is a compelling and straightforward approach. Decoupling is a simple concept — it removes the requirement that HSA owners must be covered by an HSA-qualified plan to fund their accounts. Who would benefit if decoupling were accomplished? And what are the barriers? Read More |
| Should Health FSA and Medical Align? Usually, not Always. Individuals can be covered by more than one medical plan. But if they want to be eligible to fund an HSA, all plans must be HSA-qualified, and a general Health FSA doesn’t have a deductible. Thus, anyone who’s covered by a general Health FSA is disqualified from opening and funding an HSA. Read More |
| HSA Industry News |
| Conduent to Transfer $2.7B in HSA Assets to HealthEquity Conduent announced that the business processes outsourcing provider will exit the flexible spending account business and will transfer all of its HSA assets, currently managed on its consumer account platform, BenefitWallet, to HealthEquity in the first quarter of next year. Read More |
| Truemed Launches Platform for Using HSAs and FSAs for Wellness Truemed, a firm that aims to help individuals use their tax-free HSAs or FSAs for healthy food, exercise and supplements, publicly launched on September 18. The firm partners with health and wellness brands and integrates their payment systems. Merchants such as CrossFit, Magic Mind and Kos have already managed $3 billion of gross merchandise volume through Truemed. Read More |
| Market Trends |
| Why Health Insurance Is Poised to Make Inflation Jump Inflation is broadly retreating in the U.S. economy. But starting in October, health insurance is poised to act as a countervailing force that buoys inflation for about a year, economists say. That’s significant at a time when policymakers are using inflation data to determine how to set interest rates. Read More |
| How ICHRAs Can Ignite a Revolution in Coverage Individual Coverage HRAs (ICHRAs) are new and they’re not widely available to employees but they provide companies with another option to help their employees pay medical premiums. They may not be the right choice for everyone, but it’s important that benefits advisors and employee benefits professionals understand ICHRAs to determine how this approach to coverage may help them manage their benefits budget as they retain and attract talent. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
| 63% Think Retiring at 65 Is Not Financially Possible: Here’s What Experts Have To Say In a recent survey, roughly 63% of people said they don’t think they’ll be financially prepared to retire at the age of 65 and will have to wait a few more years before they can afford to leave the workforce. If you’re wondering whether retiring at 65 is still financially viable, you’re not alone. Here’s what experts have to say on the matter, as well as some ways to improve your financial preparedness so that you can retire when the time comes. Read More |
| Hispanic Americans Face Retirement Savings Gap — Here’s What Can Be Done Many Hispanic Americans face a retirement savings gap. Cultural factors, language barriers and lower income levels are some of the factors contributing to this disparity. Here are 5 ways Hispanic Americans can improve their future in retirement. HSAs are one way to set aside money for immediate medical expenses and build a nest egg for health care costs in retirement. Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
| Why Experts Recommend HSA as a Powerful Alternative to Roth IRA When it comes to allocating money among various account types, the options can feel overwhelming. However, financial advisors suggest that for many people, there is a clear path to follow. Once you have saved enough to receive your company’s full 401(k) match, the next step is to save your additional funds in an HSA if it is available to you. Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
| Biden Administration Relaunches Free At-Home COVID Testing Program The Biden administration is relaunching a program that allows Americans to order free COVID-19 tests through the mail, ahead of a potential surge of infections this winter. The website, Covidtests.gov, will relaunch for new orders September 25. Households will be able to order up to four tests, which are intended for use through the end of the year. Read More |
| Navigating Medical Bills: Take These 12 Steps to Manage Costs and Minimize Debt Unexpected medical bills can cost as much as $1,000 or more. Learning how to manage medical bills can minimize your chances of getting into debt, so CNBC talked to experts about how to keep health-care expenses under control. Here are some steps they say you should take. Read More |
| Hospital Health Care Prices Don’t Match Online and by Phone Hospital health care prices were all over the map in a study using a secret shopper approach to inquire about costs of births and brain scans. The researchers found “wide variation” between hospitals’ cash prices posted online and those available by telephone. The result: policy makers and and patients who want price transparency for medical services, probably aren’t getting it. Read More |