Brokers and advisers tell me they keep hearing the same questionfrom their employer clients: “How can I get more employees tounderstand the benefits of health savings accounts (HSAs)?”

Based on experience, I recommend five best practices that canhelp employers achieve better participation rates, stronger HSA balances and higher employee satisfaction rates.Employers who stick to these guidelines see more than 90 percent ofemployees open an HSA with their high-deductible health plancompared with only 27 percent at companies thatdon’t.¹

1. Plan Ahead

Successfully transitioning to HSA-eligible health plans requirescareful planning since they represent a significant change tobusiness-as-usual and are generally unfamiliar to employees.

To reduce stress on your clients’ human resources staff, advisethem to allow sufficient time before open enrollment to begineducating employees and introducing the plan: at least six to ninemonths for large companies; three to six months for mid-sizecompanies. Focus communications on:

• Why the employer is offering a high-deductible health plan andHSAs
• Basic features and benefits of the plan and the HSA

Then, closer to the open enrollment date, provide more detailson how to use HSAs – such as account requirements and limits, orcalculators to estimate tax savings.

2. Minimize Choices

Human nature being what it is, employees tend to stay in thesame plan year after year absent a compelling reason to change –even if their premiums and copayments have increased.

To steer more employees towards an HSA-eligible health plan,employers can minimize plan choices: for example, up to three planoptions can be offered by large companies, up to two for mid-sizefirms and one option for small companies. Some larger employerseven make a wholesale replacement – eliminating their PPO and othertraditional plans entirely and substituting one or morehigh-deductible plans with HSAs.

Other tips:

• Offer the HSA plan at a substantial premium savings from anyother plans being offered.
• Set the HSA plan deductible high enough to avoid needing toraise it the following plan year to meet the HSA-eligible planminimum.

3. Train theTrainers

Benefit teams are often too small to conduct a full rollout ofan HSA-eligible plan by themselves. Companies experiencingsuccessful rollouts engage the entire HR staff, often using on-sitetraining to build their interest in HSAs so that it, in turn, canspread the word.

This is especially important for companies with multiple worksites. Webinars are a good alternative if on-site sessions areimpractical. With your help, employers should provide the trainerswith sufficient material and answers to common questions so theycan talk confidently in meetings or one-on-one sessions withemployees.

4. Contribute to HSAs

This is the single most effective way to get employees to begincommitting to a savings plan for their health. Employercontributions motivate employees to contribute their own funds.

You may be surprised to know that the more an employercontributes, the more employees deposit. This one step can greatlyincrease payroll savings for employers and helps their workers haveenough money in their accounts to fund their expenses up to theirdeductibles.

If your clients can’t afford to make large contributions, advisethem that even smaller ones prompt employees to open and fund theirHSAs.

5. Tell a Story

A highly effective way to get employees to read benefitmaterials and increase engagement is to use illustrative,hypothetical examples of how people like them would use their HSAs.Common examples might include a young single person, a marriedcouple with children and empty-nesters.

This helps to humanize a process that can seem technical andcomplex. Employees should also be encouraged to use the money theytypically save in HSA-eligible plans to build up their HSAbalances.

It pays to follow these best practices – according toOptumHealth^SM research, 89 percent of employees aresatisfied when these practices are followed, compared with only 35percent when they are not.²

Health savings accounts (HSAs) are individual accountsoffered by OptumHealth Bank^SM, Member FDIC, and aresubject to eligibility and restrictions, including but not limitedto restrictions on distributions for qualified medical expenses setforth in section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. Thiscommunication is not intended as legal or tax advice. Pleasecontact a competent legal or tax professional for personal adviceon eligibility, tax treatment, and restrictions. Federal and statelaws and regulations are subject to change.

1. “Health Savings Accounts: A year-long look at adoption, usageand funding patterns” and OptumHealth Financial ServicesSaver/Spender Analysis, May 2010.
2. “Health Savings Accounts: A year-long look at adoption, usageand funding patterns" and OptumHealth Financial ServicesSaver/Spender Analysis, February 2011.