As the national health care debate rages on, one area bank is finding its health savings accounts are booming.
The accounts, which are designed to allow saving for medical and retiree health expenses, are flex accounts set up through banks. Proponents say they allow more flexibility in how workers use their health care funds, while critics say the accounts favor healthier and younger people.
Doug Stillings, senior vice president of business banking at Dubuque Bank & Trust, said the plans are beneficial for smaller businesses, where increasing health care costs are particularly burdensome.
He contends that the plans are more open-ended for employees as well.
"This gives the employee much more flexibility in what they do with their health care money," Stillings said.
Users can access their accounts with debit cards and then save receipts to show they are for health care related expenses. There's no "use it or lose it" provision, so contributions carry over.
Dubuque Bank & Trust has offered the accounts for three
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At Great River Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, about half of the employees now have the accounts.
"It does allow a lot of flexibility for a healthy group or healthy individual," said Robin Zenz, office manager.
Zenz said the office has about 35 employees and the accounts have been implemented for about three years. An increasing number of employees have been signing up.
Stillings said he hasn't had any negative feedback on the program, but he admitted that such accounts are not meant for everyone.
An article by the staff at Mayo Clinic on the health care provider's Web site said negative aspects of the accounts are that older and sicker people pay more, they don't allow for the difficulty in budgeting for unpredictable illnesses and that the pressure to save money in the account might keep people from seeking preventative treatment.
Stillings said he didn't want to predict whether proposed health care reform could change the amount of interest in the accounts.
"There are so many unknowns in the health care world right now," he said. "If we continue with the type of structure we currently have, these will continue to gain popularity."
