Friday, May 2, 2008

HSAs, State by State

Largest number in California; highest proportion in Minnesota

By Grace-Marie Turner

Categories: California, Hawaii, HSAs, etc., Minnesota, New Mexico

America's Health Insurance Plans released its latest estimates of the number of people who have health insurance that would qualify them to have Health Savings Accounts.

AHIP for the first time produced estimates of how many people in each state have HSA-qualifying insurance. California leads with 638,999 (even though the state legislature refuses to allow people to deduct their HSA deposits from their state income taxes). Minnesota had the highest percentage penetration of HSAs, representing 9.2% of the insurance market. Massachusetts and New Mexico need to get with the program: They came in next to last at 0.9%, followed only by Hawaii at 0.1%.

Two key findings stand out. First, HSAs clearly are an important health insurance option for small business. The fastest growing market for HSA-qualifying insurance was in the small group market, accounting for 31% of new policies.

The average balance in an HSA account is $1,083, money that consumers have saved and can spend on future health care needs.

Roy Ramthun of HSA Consulting has produced an excellent and more detailed summary, which you can find here.