13.5M U.S. Residents Have High Deductibles, Health Savings Accounts
About 13.5 million U.S. residents are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan paired with a health savings account, an increase of 18.4% since 2011, according to an annual census report from America's Health Insurance Plans, Kaiser Health News/NPR reports. Most of the growth in such plans occurred among large employers (Hancock, Kaiser Health News/NPR, 5/30).
In 2007, just 4.5 million U.S. residents were enrolled in an HSA, according to AHIP (National Journal, 5/30).
About High-Deductible Plans
High-deductible plans require enrollees to pay an annual deductible of $1,200 to $2,400 before insurance coverage takes effect.
Employers and employees can make tax-free contributions to HSAs to finance out-of-pocket health care expenses. Funds can be rolled over year to year, unlike flexible-spending plans (Kaiser Health News/NPR, 5/30).
Report Details
For the report, AHIP conducted an e-mail survey in January of 97 health insurance companies and their subsidiaries (Modern Healthcare, 5/30).
The report does not include the number of people who have a high-deductible plan with a health reimbursement arrangement, meaning that the report does not capture the total growth of high-deductible plans (Kaiser Health News/NPR, 5/30).
Report Findings
The report found that in 2012:
- 2.5 million U.S. residents in the individual market were covered by a high-deductible plan/HSA;
- 3 million U.S. residents in the small group market were covered by a high-deductible plan/HSA; and
- 7.9 million U.S. residents in the large group market were covered by a high-deductible plan/HSA (Evans, Modern Healthcare, 5/30).
The states with the highest rate of residents enrolled in the plans were:
- Vermont at 20%;
- Minnesota at 14%; and
- Montana and Utah, both at 12% (Kaiser Health News/NPR, 5/30).
According to the report, 90% of those with an HSA had access to quality information for specific hospitals, 86% had access to such information on doctors, and 85% had access to cost information (Modern Healthcare, 5/30).
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