Americans Have Stockpiled Over $61 Billion in HSAs for Future Medical Expenses

Each year, Americans grow savvier about how to utilize health savings accounts (HSAs), and in far greater numbers. The latest research report from Devenir, which corrals feedback semi-annually from the market’s top 100 HSA providers, shows remarkable growth in overall HSA assets, HSA contributions and HSA investments.

Today, there are more than 26 million HSAs, containing an estimated $61.7 billion in assets as of June 30, 2019. This represents a year-over-year increase of 12 percent for accounts and 20 percent increase for HSA assets.

Some additional key findings from the Devenir report:

People are putting more money into their HSAs.
Account holders contributed over $22 billion to their accounts in the first six months of 2019, up 12 percent from the year prior. Unsurprisingly, those who’ve had their accounts open the longest (since 2005, the first year HSAs were made available) have the largest average balance: $10,116. Those who opened their account in 2018 hold an average balance of $1,382.

More people are realizing that they can invest their HSA funds so they grow over the long term.
There are now more than one million accounts that are investing a portion of their HSA dollars, representing a little over 4 percent of all accounts. HSA investment assets now total $13.3 billion—representing a 35 percent year-over-year increase and 22 percent of all HSA assets. The average balance of these accounts: $15,982.

Where are the contributions are coming from?
Thirty-one percent of all HSA dollars contributed to an account came from an employer (the average annual employer contribution was $648), while 52 percent came from an employee (the average annual employee contribution was $1,121), and 13 percent came from an individual account not associated with an employer. The remaining contributions came from IRA rollovers and other sources.

Oh, the places HSAs will go!
Devenir projects that, by the end of 2021, the HSA market will approach $88 billion in HSA assets held by over 30 million accounts. The HSA providers surveyed said they expect HSA industry asset growth of 16 percent in 2019, and anticipate that their own businesses will grow by 24 percent during the same period.

For more insights about how to leverage HSAs to help Americans pay for healthcare, download WEX’s consumer healthcare report here and participate in our first annual HSA Awareness Day on Oct. 15, 2019.