Health savings accounts are great for saving money on health related expenses, and they were originally designed by Congress as a way to help offset the rising cost of medical care by using pre-tax dollars. They also make a great savings vehicle. However, even though the popularity of HSAs have grown substantially over the past few years, the government that designed the product is slowly trying to destroy it. Why is that?

According to Sterling HSA, more important milestones are approaching related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under PPACA, the Patient-Centered Outcome Research Institute was formed. PCORI, a nonprofit corporation, was created to research and evaluate clinical effectiveness of medical treatments. PPACA stipulates that this entity will be funded in part by the PCORI fee.

The fees will be imposed on insurers issuing health insurance policies and on employers sponsoring self-insured health plans. The rule applies to policy and plan years ending on or after Oct. 1, 2012 and before Oct. 1, 2019. The fee is $2 ($1 in the case of policy years ending before Oct. 1, 2013) multiplied by the average number of lives covered under the policy or plan. For policy or plan years ending on or after Oct. 1, 2014, the fee is increased based on increases in the projected per capita amount of national health expenditures.