Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2018

Health Savings Accounts: Enabling Consumer Participation

by Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

Abstract

Health savings accounts (HSAs), a creation of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, had become an integral part of the drive toward consumer-driven health care. Coupled with high-deductible health plans, HSAs allowed consumers to directly control a significant part of their annual health care spend, and the tax-advantaged nature of the accounts made them an attractive investment vehicle as well. Several thorny questions remained, however. For instance, would insurers and employers embrace the accounts for the customers they influenced? Would financial professionals see the relatively small accounts as a valuable component for their clients? In this context the mobile app HSA Coach was developed. The Health Savings Accounts case presents the challenges facing new innovations in mature sectors, with particular emphasis on technology and finance concerns of Prof. Herzlinger’s Six Factors of the Innovating in Health Care framework.

Keywords: health care; healthcare costs; health care and treatment; health insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; United States;

Language: English Format: Print 29 pages Educators

Citation:

Herzlinger, Regina E., and James Wallace. "Health Savings Accounts: Enabling Consumer Participation." Harvard Business School Case 318-110, February 2018.

About the Author

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Regina E. Herzlinger
Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration
General Management

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