Racial/Ethnic And Income-Based Disparities In Health Savings Account Participation Among Privately Insured Adults.

Abstract

With the rise in the share of privately insured patients covered by high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), understanding sociodemographic trends in the uptake of health savings accounts (HSAs) is increasingly important, as HSAs may help offset the higher up-front costs of care in HDHPs. We used nationally representative data from the National Health Interview Survey from the period 2007-18 to examine trends in HDHP enrollment and HSA participation among privately insured adults by income level and race/ethnicity. Our findings show a substantial increase in HDHP enrollment across all racial/ethnic and income groups from 2007 to 2018. However, Black, Hispanic, and low-income HDHP enrollees were significantly less likely than their White and higher-income counterparts to participate in HSAs, and these gaps increased over time. This means that the HDHP enrollees most likely to benefit from the potential financial protection of HSAs were the least likely to have them. If these trends persist, racial/ethnic and income-based disparities in cost-related barriers to care may widen.