HSA Administrators

About a year ago I put $2,000 into a Health Savings Account with a bank in town. It's a typical interest-bearing checking account.

I came across a site for HSA Administrators, which services HSA accounts by offering investment through Vanguard index mutual funds (like their Admiral 500).

http://www.hsaadministrators.info/vanguard-funds-list

HSA Administrators has a 14 year track record and was recently accredited with Better Business Bureau - perfect rating so far, for whatever that's worth.

This only works if you're insured under a so-called high-deductible health plan (HDHP). Many carriers offer them by meeting the federal requirements in their design, we got ours through Blue Cross Blue Shield. In reality we can max our contributions toward it ($6,150 for families in 2011) and get some longer-duration returns on the balance rather than meager interest. The account grows tax-free until it's used to pay medical expenses. It looks as if redemptions from the mutual funds are relatively straightforward, so that liquidity wouldn't be a significant hurdle compared to the convenience of the bank account's debit card.

Cheers for the government's creation of this useful vehicle. Onward!