Morningstar Magazine - October/November 2017 - 39

EXHIBIT 2

In our study, we analyzed HSA plans for both uses.
There are hundreds of HSA providers. To keep
the scope of this paper manageable, we
focused on 10 of the most prominent providers.
Together, this group covers a significant
portion of the country's total HSA assets balance,
but no publicly available data exists to
confirm the total assets in these plans. The
providers we evaluated are Alliant Credit Union,
Bank of America, BenefitWallet, HealthSavings
Administrators, HealthEquity, HSA Bank,
Optum Bank, SelectAccount, The HSA Authority,
and UMB Bank. (HSA Bank is Morningstar's
HSA plan provider.)
outlines the criteria we evaluated
when determining our assessments of
the spending account and investment account
sides. It also includes what we consider to
be best practices, as well as the importance of
each component in determining our evaluation.
E X H I B IT 1

Assessing HSAs as Spending Vehicles Only three plans had low enough fees to
receive positive scores.
Score
Plan

Overall

Fees

Interest

Alliant Credit Union

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

The HSA Authority

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

¶ Neutral

SelectAccount

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

¶ Neutral

Optum Bank

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

BenefitWallet

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

UMB Bank

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

-

HSA Bank

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

HealthEquity

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

HealthSavings Administrators

§ Negative

§ Negative

¶ Neutral

Bank of America

§ Negative

§ Negative

¶ Neutral

Source: Morningstar. Data as of 05/31/2017.

EXHIBIT 3

For our HSA plan assessments, we determined
scores of positive, neutral, and negative
for each criterion evaluated. We aggregated those
scores and used the same three-tier scale to
assess the plans overall.

HSAs as Spending Vehicles
On the spending-vehicle side ( E X H I BI T 2 ), we
focused on maintenance fees. We also considered,
to a lesser degree, the interest rates offered
by plans' checking accounts. Interest earned on
HSA deposits is minimal given low
interest rates.
Fees

Fees represent the most important consideration
when selecting a plan to use as a spending
account. Plans with no fees received a positive
assessment, while plans that charged fees
but offered to waive them after a certain threshold
in deposits received a neutral assessment.
Plans that charged fees no matter the balance
received a negative assessment.
Much like the 401(k) market, fees vary wildly from
one provider to another. Monthly accountmaintenance fees represent the most common

Assessing HSAs as Investment Vehicles Four plans received an overall positive
score, but only one, HealthEquity, earned positives across the board for its menu
design, quality, price, and performance.
Score
Plan

Overall

Menu Design

Investment
Quality

Price

Performance

HealthEquity

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

Optum Bank

∞ Positive

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

The HSA Authority

∞ Positive

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

Bank of America

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

∞ Positive

SelectAccount

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

BenefitWallet

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

§ Negative

∞ Positive

HSA Bank

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

¶ Neutral

§ Negative

¶ Neutral

HealthSavings Administrators

¶ Neutral

§ Negative

¶ Neutral

¶ Neutral

∞ Positive

Alliant Credit Union

§ Negative

§ Negative

¶ Neutral

§ Negative

¶ Neutral

Source: Morningstar. Data as of 05/31/2017.

expense borne by participants, so we focused
our analysis on these levies. Other fees such as
debit card replacement fees, returned check fees,
check orders, overdraft fees, and excess
contribution fees are commonly assessed and are
important for participants to keep in mind.

Interest

Most HSA providers pay interest on deposits on
the checking account portion of the HSA.
These are the only returns that workers using HSAs
exclusively as spending vehicles will receive.
Accountholders with greater account balances

global.morningstar.com/Morningstarmagazine

39
http://global.morningstar.com/Morningstarmagazine
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Morningstar Magazine - October/November 2017
