Making Health Savings Accounts Work

Newly created health savings accounts (HSAs) promise to solve problems extant across the corporate benefit landscape—namely, rising health care costs. Frustrated employees abet this situation by overusing the health care system, justified by the conclusion that once they pay their premiums, they should use the services. Through reduced premiums and lower administrative overhead, HSAs can save employers from 10% to 30% on health care costs while expanding the range and quality of health care choices. However, successful implementation of HSAs requires a number of essential elements: thorough, easy-to-understand and readily accessible patient education; cost-conscious treatment recommendations that fit within medically approved algorithms; simple, yet seamless integration of banking functions into medial insurance claim processing; and the technology to make it all work. The ability of HSAs to attenuate rising health care costs rests not only on their inherent tax advantages but also on the optimized implementation and administration of such accounts.