Health Savings Accounts (HSA): How Do I Tell a Good One from a Bad One?

Health Savings Accounts (HSA): How Do I Tell a Good One from a Bad One?

The Health Savings Account (HSA) is becoming well-known as an incredible tool to reduce health insurance premuims and yet provide good security for healthcare emergencies.

But what should consumers watch out for? Are there good HSAs and bad HSAs?

The answer is "not really." All HSAs are made to be quite similar, by federal law. They must conform to the national standards.

However, there are some subtlies that differentiate HSAs as, not good or bad, but maybe good and better.

The first thing to ask about an HSA is about the fees that the HSA custodian charges. Find out all the fees, including setup fee and annual fees. It is reasonable to pay a small setup fee ($25 or more) but I would not expect an annual fee to be charged.

Your next question should be directed towards the investment options. Many HSAs offer only a "money market" type of account. This is really not desirable. The best option for investing your HSA money (which could become quite substantial if you do not use it up year-after-year) is in a low-risk mutual fund. My suggestion is to invest the HSA money in a government bond fund or a corporate bond fund. These funds often make more than 5% gains in a year, but they do not suffer the dramatic ups and downs of stock mutual funds.

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