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Health savings account banks provide tax-free health benefits to those with existing high-deducible health insurance plans.
HSAs Grow
In a 2009 financial report by Celent, health savings accounts (HSA) are growing 40 to 60 percent each year. With this unbelievable growth, more and more banks are taking notice of this new way to save.
By helping Americans save and pay for their health care costs, banks, in turn, now have a risk-free way to exponentially increase their deposits.
Smaller Banks at a Disadvantage
Currently, there are about 600 health savings account banks in the United States. Most of the banks currently offerings HSAs are larger banks, because it takes many, many open HSA accounts for the bank to make it a profitable system.
Some smaller, community banks are turning away from health savings accounts due to their costly set-up fees. Since health savings accounts have only been a savings option for about five years, many people have questions and concerns. Health savings account banks must pull resources and have an HSA-trained customer service team ready to handle all HSA-related inquiries. Many smaller banks do not have such resources.
A Look Ahead
As the word spreads about tax-free health savings accounts, no doubt more and more Americans will look to save money in this way. When that happens, look for technology to emerge to help streamline the process, lower costs, and increase profits for both large and small banks.
