HSA Headlines - 6/21/19 - Has HSA growth leveled out?

Over the past decade, one of the biggest stories in the health and benefits world was the runaway growth of HSAs, which by the end of 2018 exceeded 25 million accounts (Devenir). But has the HSA trend finally tailed off?

In this week's edition of HSA Headlines, we'll take a look at new enrollment numbers for HSAs that could give benefit managers pause, as well as overlooked aspects of HSAs that, if communicated effectively, could bolster enrollment in the future.

What's happening with HSA growth? - Emily Payne, BenefitsPro

In recent years, 3% year-over-year growth was par for the course with HSA enrollment numbers, but according to new research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the percentage of individuals with an HDHP (with no HSA) dropped for the first time since 2015, while those with a CDHP (with an HSA) grew at just under 3%.

That doesn't seem...that bad? While admittedly the industry is taking stock of these new changes, the same research did point out some promising signs for HSAs. 17% of HSA users opened their accounts in the last year, while another 26% did so in the past 1-2 years. That groundswell of new users should bode well for the HSAs future and could help us get back to the days of 3% growth!

Some Plan Sponsors May Need a Nudge About HSA Rollovers - Investment News

To be clear, we're not talking about how HSA funds roll over at the end of each plan year. Even though that's a pretty great feature! This HSA rollover refers to when you leave a job, and you take your HSA with you and continue to contribute to it throughout your career.

But it turns out that employers need to do more to make employees aware of this fact. A new survey conducted by the Plan Sponsor Council of America found that only 19% of employees ask new employees whether they'd like to move their HSA from their previous job into their new company's plan. That's a huge problem.

Portability of HSAs is one of their best features, but if employees are unaware of that fact, they could potentially have a handful of scattered HSAs in different accounts at their previous employers, as opposed to a single account where all of their health savings is kept. This is a key piece of information that needs to be more effectively communicated at all levels of the HSA life cycle, especially open enrollment communications.

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HSA Headlines is a weekly roundup of the latest, most relevant news and conversations about your health savings. It appears every Friday, exclusively on the HSA Learning Center. And for more about your physical and financial well-being, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.