April 05, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Health savings accounts

Health savings accounts allow employees to set aside money on a tax-free basis to pay for future medical expenses.

[Chart data—TXT]

Health savings accounts must be used in conjunction with employer-provided, high-deductible health plans with an annual maximum limit on out-of-pocket and deductible expenses. Other features of health savings accounts include the rollover of unused contributions, the portability of accounts, and tax-free interest.

The chart shows that, in 2006, 9 percent of employees who worked in establishments with 100 or more employees had access to health savings accounts, while 3 percent of employees who worked in establishments with 1 to 99 workers had access to such accounts.

It also shows that 6 percent of workers who worked in metropolitan areas had access to health savings accounts and that 4 percent of workers in nonmetropolitan areas had access to such accounts.

These data are from the BLS National Compensation Survey program. Learn more in "Pretax Benefits: Access to Section 125 Cafeteria Benefits and Health Savings Accounts in the United States, Private Industry," in the March 2007 issue of Compensation and Working Conditions Online.

Related TED article:

• Flexible benefits and reimbursement accounts