AHIP: 6.1 Million Americans Now Covered by HSA Plans
According to a new census released by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), more than 6.1 million Americans are enrolled in Health Savings Account (HSA)-eligible insurance plans, a 35 percent increase since last year. HSAs were authorized starting in January 2004. Since then, AHIP has conducted a periodic census of its members participating in the HSA plan market.
Among its key findings, the census showed that there was an increase of approximately 1.6 million Americans enrolled in an HSA plan since January 2007. Previous censuses found that 4.5 million were enrolled in January 2007, 3.2 million were enrolled in January 2006, and 1.0 million were enrolled in March 2005. Thirty percent of individuals covered by an HSA plan were in the small group market, 45 percent were in the large-group market, and the remaining 25 percent were in the individual market.
The census also found that HSA products accounted for 31 percent of new coverage issued in the small-group market, and individual market consumers selected HSA products for 27 percent of their new purchases of health insurance. HSA plan enrollment as a percentage of individuals with private coverage is estimated to be the highest in Minnesota (9.2 percent), Louisiana (9.0 percent), Washington, D.C. (8.7 percent), Vermont (7.5 percent), and Colorado (7.1 percent), according to the census.