On May 19, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released a report that found that the number of Americans enrolled in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) increased 25 percent from last year, to over 10 million.  The report found that nationally, an average of 4.8 percent of privately insured Americans under age 65 have HDHPs.  HDHPs were first approved by Congress in 2004, and are typically paired with a health savings account or health-reimbursement arrangement. 

From the report:

An annual census by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) of U.S. health insurance carriers shows that the number of people covered by health savings account/high-deductible health plans (HSA/HDHPs) totaled 10 million in January 2010. As in previous years, AHIP received participation from virtually all private health insurance carriers in the HSA/HDHP market for this census. This census does not include coverage associated with health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), which are most commonly offered in the large-group market.

Full report:   January 2010 Census Shows 10 Million People Covered by HSA/High Deductible Health Plans (PDF | 395.64 KB)

AHIP Center for Policy Research. (2010). January 2010 Census shows 10 million people covered by HSA/high deductible health plans.