- Key Insight: Discover how employer contributions and education are turning HSAs into retention tools.
- What's at Stake: Employers risk lower retention and weaker financial-wellness outcomes without strategic HSA design.
- Supporting Data: Average HSA balance rose 11% to $5,457 in 2025.
- Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
Americans are putting more money into health savings accounts amid historic premium increases and
New data from HSA provider Lively shows that the average account balance for the company's clients was $5,457 in 2025 compared to an average of $4,923 last year. That's a year-over-year increase of 11%.
"Americans are looking for ways that they can control these costs," says Shobin Uralil, co-founder and chief operating officer at Lively. "And if you think about the HSA, it's the most powerful vehicle by which you can do that."
As contributions rise, more people are choosing to
Despite these gains, Uralil says benefits leaders can do more to increase
"Education is still the No. 1 issue that prevents employees from maximizing their accounts," Uralil says.
He points out that many employees view benefits in a reactive way, and the perks only become relevant when they're needed. "If I'm going to a doctor or if I have an emergency, that's when it becomes top of mind," Uralil says, "or when I have to actually make a selection, which typically happens during open enrollment time frame."
Additionally, Uralil says some people get lost in the alphabet soup, and when benefit leaders start talking about HSAs, FSAs and HRAs, everything starts to sound the same. "When that's the case, oftentimes it results in inaction, which prevents people from
Companies that contribute to their employees' HSA accounts — whether through a onetime contribution or regular deposits throughout the year — tend to have much higher participation rates, Uralil says.
"This is also a great retention tool from an employer perspective to be able to say, 'At the end of every year on that HSA program, I'm going to be contributing this amount of money into your account,'" Uralil says.
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HSAs are most widely adopted by workers in the tech, manufacturing, education, healthcare, and financial and professional services industries, according to Lively's data. "In the financial and professional services world, you tend to have people that are more highly compensated, so they have more discretionary income to max out their HSA and use it as another form of retirement to fund healthcare expenses later in life," Uralil says.
Higher-income earners typically put
"We work with a number of different employers who will say, 'I'm contributing a higher amount for those that might be more vulnerable,'" Uralil says.
Policy changes
As of Jan. 1, more people now qualify for an HSA. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made Bronze and Catastrophic Affordable Care Act plans HSA-eligible, and the law allows direct primary care fees to be paid with HSA funds.
Uralil supports those policy changes and says he would also like the federal government to further expand HSA eligibility by removing the requirement that account holders must have a
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"We believe that requirement should go away so that every American can decide for themselves how they should save and pay for their health care through the HSA," Uralil says.
With more people becoming eligible, HSAs are increasingly becoming a "core cornerstone" of companies' benefit strategies and playing a greater role in
Benefit leaders, Uralil says, are "looking to work with a provider that can match their strategy to drive up engagement, adoption and ultimately contributions … to ensure their employees are set up for the long term."
