Criteria for Evaluating HSA Plans

for Small Businesses

In evaluating the best HSAs for small businesses, we focused on a whole slew of criteria including: platform, fees, investments, fund access (payments & reimbursements), features (debit card, mobil app, contributions, document storage, value added partnerships, payroll integration and claims integration).

Platform

We believe small businesses should look closely at each prospective administrator’s technology platform. Specifically small employer’s should partner with an administrator that:

• owns their HSA platform. This makes it so that a small business wont have to worry about third-party issues.

• continually updates or adds to their platform. You want an HSA administrator that is never content with their offering. You want an administrator that’s always investing in their platform to ensure it’s as robust and innovative tomorrow as it is today.

Fees

Most small businesses are not flush with cash and with that in mind we looked for administrators that offered a great value proposition. Small businesses should look for HSA administrators with:

• maintenance / administrative fees on the lower end of the spectrum ($0 - $3 per employee per month)

• that don’t nickle and dime their employees with senseless account based fees.

Fund Access

The overwhelming majority of HSA users are spenders. With that in mind we looked for administrators that make transactions easy. In this day and age HSA users are going to want to pay their healthcare bills with familiar and convenient methods such as:

• debit cards

• virtual cards (Apple and Android Pay)

• online bill pay, and

• checks

As an employer, seek an administrator that is quickly evolving with the digital transformation taking place in healthcare payments. For example, a trend we are seeing right now is the adoption of virtual cards (Apple Pay and Android Pay). Online bill pay also has been gaining traction as more and more providers—and payers—are moving to electronic payments every day. Check payments are slowly being phased out as the healthcare payment revolution has progressed.

When employees pay for qualified medical expenses out-of-pocket, they should be able to access their HSA dollars multiple ways whether it be via:

• online transfers

• check disbursements, or

• ATM withdrawals

Investments

At The HSA Report Card we are big believers in making passive index investing as simple as possible. In that respect we like administrators with the following attributes:

• A hassle free investment platform

  • Technology that enables users to set investments on auto-pilot

• Low Investment thresholds

• Low investment fees

• Low cost, globally diversified investment menu

  • We believe each investment lineup should offer the following:

    • At least 1 low-cost domestic index fund

    • At least 1 low-cost foreign developed markets index fund

    • At least 1 low-cost emerging markets index fund

    • At least 1 low-cost short-term or intermediate term index fund

    • 4-6 low-cost allocation / target date funds

  • Investment lineups with should be composed of funds with low expense ratios

Features

Lastly, we scoured the universe for HSA plans that spoiled investors with great features.

• Debit Card

• Contributions

• Document Storage

• Mobil App

• Payroll Integration

• Claims Integration

• Value Added Partneships

• Cost Transparency Tools

This administrator has only been around for a few years, but they have quickly earned a reputation as one of the best in the nation. Lively’s user friendly platform and low fees make this an attractive HSA for small businesses looking to offer a modern HSA.

Further understands HSAs. They’ve been in the space since their inception. They also take customer service very seriously. Their name says it all. They will go further than any other administrator in the space to make their customers happy.

Bend is a newish administrator that is using AI to help participants optimize their HSA. The company’s platform simplifies saving for healthcare, offering personalized guidance that makes it easy for anyone to plan, track, and pay for their expenses.

Lane Health is a new up and coming administrator that provides its members a “Card with a Heart.” The Card with a Heart makes high deductible health plans less scary, allowing them to work for everyone — not just the few who can afford to contribute to, and save money in, an HSA.

This Northeast community bank offers a solid deal for small businesses that are on a budget. Avidia Health is one of very few administrators that offers a free small business HSA.

The HSA Authority offers a fee free employer HSA. This is an incredible deal for an administrator that has received awards from Morningstar for being a top level option for both spenders and investors.