Criteria for Evaluating HSA Plans
AS A SPENDING VEHICLE
The following list of HSA providers is for HSA spenders. These account holders treat their HSAs as pseudo checking accounts, paying for health care expenses as they occur. When evaluating HSAs as a spending vehicle we focused primarily on the following:
Fees
Ease of access to funds
Features that make it easy for spenders to manage all aspects of their HSA
FEES
When you open an HSA, you are subject to a long list of potential fees, especially as an HSA spender. The majority of HSA spenders are subject to the following fees:
Maintenance / Administrative
Paper Statement
Point of Sale (POS) / Transaction
ATM Withdrawal
Debit Card Issuance
Check Distribution (Reimbursement)
Overdraft / Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF)
Stop Payment Request
Closing / Transfer / Rollover
Excess Contribution
Etc.
The best HSAs for Spenders:
have transparent fee disclosures.
have no monthly administrative/maintenance fees.
have very few fees that participants can potentially "run into."
REIMBURSEMENT
Ease of access to funds is of the utmost importance for HSA spenders.
The best HSAs for Spenders:
offer a hassle-free reimbursement experience.
allow participants to reimburse themselves in multiple ways (check, ATM withdrawal, ACH transfer, etc.)
FEATURES
In our search of the very best HSAs for spenders, we looked for administrators with the following features:
Intuitive websites/apps
Receipt / document storage tool to record and upload related medical invoice
Useful planning and consumerism tools
Comprehensive education
HSAs are complex. HSA administrators should provide educational resources to educate their account holders. Educational resources should be available in multiple formats whether it be live webinars, recorded presentations, videos, informative blog posts, or infographics.
Dedicated customer service team with administrative expertise
When evaluating the best HSAs for spenders we opted to only recommend HSA providers whose core business is HSAs. HSA administrators with other lines of business usually don't allocate the required resources to adequately serve HSA spenders. For HSA spenders, the HSA offering must be comprehensive, and therefore we only recommend administrators who have dedicated HSA teams that are focused on providing the best experience for account holders.
The Best HSAs for Spenders
Standard Plan (Non-Employer Group)