healthtrakglobal.com

Almost 1,000 Community Banks Rely On HSA Deposits

 Some 12 million Americans were beneficiaries of health savings accounts at the end of January 2010, according to the latest annual Consumer Health Savings Update 2010 by independent publisher Interpro Publications (Washington).  The annual study tracks actual data from the largest banks, allowing  accurate estimates of national market size and scope.

Over 1,000 banks and other financial institutions were providing 5.7 million health savings accounts to consumers as of January 31 all across the U.S., the study finds.  Just over two million people opened HSAs in the 12 months ending in January, bringing the total number of Americans with HSAs to 11.9 million nationwide.

Almost all of the deposits into HSAs are in checking accounts to be used for routine family medical expenses during the year. Less than 5% of all HSA deposits are placed into investment funds. But that percentage appears to be rising slowly as more and more Americans realize their retiree medical care is at high risk due to employer cutbacks and the fact that Medicare may be insolvent.

HSAs have become an important deposit vehicle for financial services institutions in the U.S. trying to recover from recession. HSAs generated $8.4 billion in deposits to U.S. banks during a time when financial institutions are desperately seeking deposits to add stability. Fourteen top banks saw $100 million each in deposits, and eleven banks now provide more than 100,000 accounts apiece. Three serve over one million beneficiaries.

The 23 national banks participating in the core group hold 70% of all HSA accounts in the U.S., with uniformly steady growth in the HSA business despite the recession.  The average large HSA bank saw a 22% increase in HSA accounts in the past year to an average of 174,720 HSA accounts per bank.

The number of Americans who are HSA beneficiaries rose by 2.1 million in the 12 month period, approximately the same amount as in the previous period. If this customer growth number stays level there will be a total of 22 million Americans with HSA funds in January 2015, in over 10 million health savings accounts.

Copyright  Interpro Publications Inc. 2010

Subscriptions