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Who funds their health savings account and why?

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  • Song Chen
  • Anthony Lo Sasso
  • Aneesh Nandam

Abstract

Health savings account (HSA) enrollment has increased markedly in the last several years, but little is known about the factors affecting account funding decisions. We use a unique data set containing from a bank that exclusively services HSA funds linked to health status, benefit design, plan coverage, and enrollee characteristics from a very large national health insurance company to examine the factors associated with HSA contribution. We found that even small employer contributions had an apparently large effect on the decision to open an account: the account-opening rate was 50 % higher when employers contributed to the account. Conditional on opening an HSA, employee contributions were negatively associated with the amount of employer contribution, contributions rose with age, income, education, and health care need. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Song Chen & Anthony Lo Sasso & Aneesh Nandam, 2013. "Who funds their health savings account and why?," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 219-232, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ijhcfe:v:13:y:2013:i:3:p:219-232
    DOI: 10.1007/s10754-013-9131-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anthony T. Lo Sasso & Lorens A. Helmchen & Robert Kaestner, 2010. "The Effects of Consumer‐Directed Health Plans on Health Care Spending," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 85-103, March.
    2. Steinorth, Petra, 2011. "Impact of health savings accounts on precautionary savings, demand for health insurance and prevention effort," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 458-465, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wouters, Olivier J. & Cylus, Jonathan & Yang, Wei & Thomson, Sarah & McKee, Martin, 2016. "Medical savings accounts: assessing their impact on efficiency, equity, and financial protection in health care," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65448, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. M. Kate Bundorf, 2016. "Consumer-Directed Health Plans: A Review Of The Evidence," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 83(1), pages 9-41, January.

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