What People are Saying About HSAs

The following people shared publicly in a Congressional hearing how Health Savings Accounts has been a great health care option for them, their small business and their employees.

"My employees and I are delighted"

"My employees and I are delighted with the concept of Health Savings Account that allows us to benefit from our health care spending decisions with the use of pretax dollars. This type of health plan puts the consumer in charge of how he or she may elect to spend their health care dollars. The excess rolls over year after year, and employees can take it with them to a new job if they retire".

-Small business owner in Lafayette, Colorado

"Health Savings Account [were] the answer"

"After exploring a variety of approaches, we knew a replacement high deductible health care plan with Health Savings Accounts was the answer. HSAs would allow our employees to fully own their accounts. While the company would contribute, plan participants may--but would not be required to make contributions. Especially important is that these funds would carry over form year to year, allowing an employee to build a reserve for an unexpected injury or illness. In a business with frequent turn over, portability was important. Health Savings Accounts would allow employees to set aside money for post retirement health care expenses that stayed with them regardless of where they were working".

- Human Resources and Administration Vice President in Dublin, Ohio

"Employees had a viable option for quality healthcare that was beginning to become affordable"

Coverage under a traditional HMO health plan: "As our medical expenses increases reached double digits, for seven consecutive years, the result was that employees began to leave the plan. Each year, more and more low-risk individuals shifted coverage to a spouse's plan, or purchased insurance on their own, while the higher risk employees remained. Our experience deteriorated, premiums went up, benefits continued to decline, and the cycle repeated itself. The death cycle for insurance coverage, is what we came to call it".

After changing coverage to a Health Savings Account: "For the first time in six years, and now for the second consecutive year, [we] received a pay increase while the agency was able to absorb the more modest increase in premiums. For two years, employees received a true cost of living increase. Turnover has begun to decline. That means jobs were not eliminated. It means programs were not cut, and it means employees had a viable option for quality health care that was beginning to become affordable".

"We moved to HSAs because we had to. We remain there because we choose to".

- Vice President of Human Resources in Des Plaines, Illinois

Take a few minutes to review a self-paced Online Briefing on HSAs.