Health Savings Accounts (“HSA’s”) are still a new concept in health care finance, but McKinsey & Company partners Paul Mango and Vivian Riefberg write in this Wall Street Journal ($) article that there are promising developments in the insurance infrastructure that suggest that HSA’s are going to have a larger effect on America’s broken down third party payor system of health care finance than many experts are currently predicting.
The authors point out that the quickly emerging financial industry surrounding HSA’s will eventually compete effectively with typical third party payor health insurance and that this competition will force traditional insurers to improve their performance or suffer. After describing four areas of the financial service industry that are developing in regard to HSA’s, the authors observe the following:

In each of these four businesses, incumbent health insurers’ positions are open to attack from new entrants. They will need to decide whether to try to build the new skills themselves, acquire them, or partner with others. The growth and popularity of the new HSAs is exceeding expectations, so resolving these questions quickly will be vital. Insurers, asset managers and banks have already announced several key acquisitions and alliances that will exclude others from locking up the best partnerships.
The smart money is already moving fast to stake out its place in the new marketplace. Hold on for what promises to be an interesting ride.

Could several large traditional health insurers that fail to adapt to the changing marketplace in health care finance turn into the health care insurance equivalent of legacy airlines? Stay tuned.