The originators of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) never intended to encourage the use of Health Savings Accounts, (HSA). After all, ACA’s proponents view HSAs as a tax break for the wealthy. But they are trending upward across the general population with 16 million total accounts in 2015, (22 percent yearly increase) containing over $30 billion in assets – figures that are expected to double in the next few years.
What is driving HSA adoption? Answer: Paying for health costs with tax advantaged dollars.
Health insurance deductibles and out-of-pocket costs have skyrocketed under the ACA, leaving employees to pick up more and more of their health care costs. The politically correct term for this phenomenon is an increase in the “employee cost share,” which doesn’t make it sound so bad.