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August 11, 2010
Health Savings Accounts See Increase in Popularity with New Healthcare Law
After a slow-down, Health Savings Accounts are rebounding in popularity after the passage of the new healthcare laws. "The number of requests for HSA proposals and requests for HSA information are up a lot for January enrollments from Fortune 500 groups," according to the president of HSA Bank, Kirk Hoewisch.
As President Obama was poised to sign healthcare reform into law, employers seemed to cautiously stall major health insurance decisions. Would Health Savings Accounts remain a part of U.S. healthcare?
"There is a consensus that Heath Savings Accounts will continue to exist," says Kunal Pandya. He's the senior analyst for health insurance and payments at Aite Group LLC in Boston. Regulators continue to redefine the rules for Health Savings Accounts as well as health insurance, but certain restrictions are already known, such as what are qualifying purchases for Health Savings Account fund withdrawals. It's also clear that in 2013, the minimum threshold to claim an itemized deduction for healthcare expenses will increase from 7.5 percent to 10 percent of adjusted gross income.
It's still possible that Health Savings Accounts will be rendered irrelevant sometime in the future, but many banks and financial institutions are looking for partnerships with health insurers to promote Health Savings Accounts for the time being. To stay up-to-date on the future of HSA Plans, HSA for America maintains extensive resources to aide in establishing Health Savings Accounts and daily news updates.
Posted by Wiley Long at August 11, 2010 09:20 AM