An HSA Explanation for Humans

Warning, the following post is aimed at younger workers in the USA without major recurring medical costs.

Every October, in every company I’ve been at, the option to enroll in a Health Savings Account (HSA) comes up and brings with it the same question: “Wait how do those work? Do I want one?”

Employers share lots of FAQs to ease the pain but they tend to be written by biased health care companies or financial firms using jargon unfamiliar to millennials like “tax-advantaged” or “savings”. At my last job, I wrote an unofficial explainer that ended up getting read by half the company, so I thought I’d publish something here and hope it does some good in the world.

Put simply, an HSA is most likely the best option financially but at the expense of being confusing and requiring the most mental energy.

I always liked this explanation because it should quickly filter you to the “not interested” or “maybe interested” pile. If you love credit card hacking, personal finance, investing, etc. you will probably get off on HSA ownership. If you’re like “WTF was that sentence” stay far away.

How is it cheaper?

The way your life will change when you have an HSA is doctor’s appointments will look hella expensive. You will get $200–300 bills when you used to pay $30–50 in copays. So how is this cheaper? Imagine that you have 3 doctors appointments a year for $200 dollars each. When you sign up for an HSA, your employer may fund it with…