Enrollment Trends With Health Savings Accounts and High-Deductible Health Plans

According to a recent report from the AHIP Center for Policy and Research from November 2015, as of January 2015 nearly 19.7 million people were enrolled in health savings account/high-deductible health plans (HSA/HDHPs). This represents an increase of approximately two million enrollees since January 2014, four million since January 2013, and six million since January 2012.  According to the report, in 2015, 78% of all individuals enrolled in an HSA-qualified HDHP were in the large-group market. This percentage has been increasing each year since March 2005 while the share of enrollees in the small-group and individual markets with HSA-qualified HDHPs has been decreasing (Figure 1).

According to the report, nearly 2 million people were enrolled in HSA/HDHPs purchased in the individual market in January 2015. As with previous years, the gender distribution of enrollees covered by HSA-eligible HDHPs in the individual market was 50% male and 50% female. In January 2015, 56% of all HSA/HDHP enrollees in the individual market (including dependents covered under family plans) were age 40 or over, while 44% were under age 40.

Companies offering HSA/HDHP products in the small-group market reported enrollment of 2.3 million as of January 2015. In general, small-group coverage was defined by responding companies as coverage offered by employers with 50 or fewer employees. In the small-group market, the gender distribution of enrollees covered by an HSA/HDHP was 52% male and 48% female. Ninety-two percent of plans offered their enrollees access to information and 88% of plans made information about their physicians’ hospital affiliations and medical education available to HSA/HDHP enrollees. Member access to health savings account balances was available from 83% of responding plans and 65% of plans made healthcare provider cost information available to their HSA/HDHP enrollees.Respondents reported state-by-state enrollment for nearly 15 million lives with HSA/HDHP coverage as of January 2015. States with the largest reported HSA/HDHP enrollment levels were Texas (1,533,416), Illinois (1,280,655), Pennsylvania (843,182), Ohio (841,970), and Minnesota (834,594). Sixty-four health insurance companies were surveyed. The full report is available online atwww.ahip.org/epub/2015-HSA-Census/

Continue Reading

Growth

Growth

by Katie Mercurio February 29, 2024 At Watko, a focus on growth is a basic characteristic of our work culture. Having a growth mindset allows us to serve our customers better by learning new ways to improve practices, impact vendor performance, and...

Year-Round Plan Communication

Year-Round Plan Communication

by Jessica Hawkins February 15, 2024 For some employees, their annual open enrollment is the only time of year that they are engaged with their benefits. When employers place a focus on year-round benefits education, employees have the...

It Ain’t Over

It Ain’t Over

by Greg Watkins February 1, 2024 I watched the Yogi Berra documentary on Netflix last night. If you haven’t watched it, there’s much to learn and it is very entertaining. His Yogi-isms and story in general are epic.  Makes me think a lot about the...