The survey concluded that "few US adults who were enrolled in HDHPs were using HSAs to save for health care expenses, despite the cost-related barriers to access."
Employers, health care systems and health plans should consider "targeted interventions" to encourage greater use of health savings accounts that could help make health care services more affordable to individuals enrolled in high-deductible health plans, a new study asserted.
The study, "Use of Health Savings Accounts Among US Adults Enrolled in High-Deductible Health Plans," was based on a survey of 1,637 individuals during several months in 2016.
The survey concluded that "few US adults who were enrolled in HDHPs were using HSAs to save for health care expenses, despite the cost-related barriers to access and financial burdens experienced by the growing number of HDHP enrollees."
Enrollees in HDHPs pay higher deductibles, but lower premiums, and can use HSAs to save for health expenses before taxes. U.S. regulators say an HDHP enrollee who doesn't need many health care services can benefit from a lower monthly premium.
About 1 in 3 respondents did not have a health savings account, according to the study, and more than half of the individuals with an HSA had not contributed money into it within the last 12 months. The study found that "less education and health insurance literacy were associated with not having made contributions."
"These findings suggest that many US adults enrolled in an HDHP lack an HSA, and few with an HSA saved for health care in the last year," the authors wrote.
The authors noted significant recent legislative activity targeting HSAs, which were first enacted in 2003. At least 23 bills "have been introduced to expand eligibility for HSAs to more than just HDHP enrollees, increase HSA contribution limits, or broaden the list of services that can be paid for with funds from an HSA."
But the authors expressed some concern that legislative activity would provide any benefits "without concomitant efforts to support eligible individuals to take advantage of their eligibility and facilitate their acquisition of an HSA."
New concerns are being raised about the costs of HDHPs. A new survey from The Physicians Advocacy Institute said the average deductible for covered employees had risen 212% between 2008 and 2018, and premiums for employer-sponsored insurance had risen by 55% during that period.
"High-deductible health plans were supposed to make us better health care consumers, but they have failed," Donald J. Palmisano Jr., executive director and chief executive officer of the Medical Association of Georgia, said recently. "They force people attracted by low premiums to choose between health care and housing, or food. They're an idea that turned out to be bad for both patients and doctors."
Mike Scarcella is a senior editor in Washington at BenefitsPRO sister site, Law.com. Contact him at [email protected]and on Twitter @MikeScarcella.
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Mike Scarcella
Mike Scarcella is a senior editor in Washington on ALM Media's regulatory desk. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @MikeScarcella. Mike works on a slate of newsletters: Supreme Court Brief | Higher Law | Compliance Hot Spots | Labor of Law.
