Prevalence by Industry

[Guest SHaddon]

I'm trying to get a sense of how prevalent HSAs are in the California healthcare industry, specifically hospitals. Does anyone have any idea where I might be able to obtain any current survey data?

[leevena]

I am guessing that your question means you are looking for information on how many hospitals have begun to offer HSA's to their employees as a benefit choice. Is this correct?

Data on what the popularity of HSA's within certain industries is not readily available. Often times this type of information needs to be obtained from a variety of sources, such as carrier, consultants, and survey's. Also, since HSA's are relatively new, any such data would provide minimal information.

That said, California (which I am in) has a mixed bag of HSA enrollment. On the individual market, many such policies are being sold. In the group market, it is much less. Areas with high HMO enrollment and lower costs (such as San Diego, Orange County, etc.) will have less HSA enrollment. Areas with the opposite characteristics (northern Cal) will tend to have more Consumer Driven plans (hsa's, hra's, 105's).

Also, at the group level, it might make more sense to install an HRA as opposed to an HSA. With the HRA the side-fund dollars belong to the employer, as opposed to the HSA where the side-funds belong to the employee. Not many employers would be willing to provide those dollars at 100% vesting to the employees if they could use a HRA and keep the dollars themselves.

Hope this helps.