Health Savings Account Blog

For the same time period, the average monthly employer contribution increased from $69 to $113 for individual Health Savings Account holders. The average monthly employer contribution rose more significantly, to $266 for first-quarter 2009 from $133 in the previous quarter. The average ages remained the same for the groups from quarter to quarter.

“Consumers enrolled in HSA plans demographically are very similar to consumers of traditional health care,” notes Canopy CEO Vik Kashyap. He also points out “the fact that consumers are clearly using these accounts for saving towards long-term care needs and even retirement.”

First-quarter 2009 average individual HSA balances totaled $960, up from $928 in the fourth quarter of 2008 and from $697 for first-quarter 2008, according to Canopy. Average HSA balances for families also rose, increasing to $1,720 in the first quarter of 2009 from $1,600 in the last quarter of 2008 and from $1,419 in first-quarter 2008.

This trend of increasing contributions, says Kashyap, is noteworthy. “The most significant thing we have noticed is that even in a recession economy, both employers and consumers continue to make contributions to and invest in Health Savings Accounts, which supports the contention that HSA products have become a key/integral component of employer-sponsored health care, and that contributions in many ways mimic those made to 401(k)s in which people invest a little bit each month into these accounts in an effort to accumulate long-term wealth/funds for long-term medical needs,” he tells ICDC.

According to Canopy, the average monthly HSA spend for individuals in first-quarter 2009 was $81, down slightly from $83.54 in the previous quarter. Likewise, the average monthly HSA spend for families was $103 most recently, down from $108.19. Spending on hospital services continued to make up a large amount of the spend for both individual and family Health Savings Accounts over both quarters. Other categories of reported spend include dental services, vision and lab/diagnostic tests.

“The most important take-away for employers is the dollar values held in Health Savings Accounts, and the fact that their employees are using these accounts not only as savings vehicles for long-term medical expenses, but ultimately towards retirement,” maintains Kashyap. “Additionally, as their employees increasingly use a Health Savings Account to manage their health care expenditures, they are becoming much more informed/empowered consumers of health care services, which will play a key role long term in reducing overall health care costs of an organization and the costs associated with managing employer-sponsored health care.”

The report is available at: www.canopyfi.com/hsametrics.htm