Learned something cool today: you can always move an existing HSA to whatever provider you want, even if you no longer have a high deductible plan. While it’s true that you can’t make net new contributions without an HSA-eligible high-deductible plan, transferring your old balance into a brand new account does NOT require an active high-deductible plan. You are never locked in with a bad HSA provider.

I assumed I was stuck with the provider my employer picked. No disrespect to the employer, but that HSA was awful. Maintenance fees, bad investment fund options, cash minimums. Together that all probably cost me thousands over the years. But today I opened a new HSA and transferred everything (not an ad but I chose Fidelity).

One note: ask for a trustee-to-trustee transfer instead of a rollover. A transfer moves the money directly between providers, isn’t taxed, and you can do it as often as you want. A rollover means the check comes to you and you have 60 days to redeposit it, and you only get one of those per 12 months.

Old news for some of you, I’m sure. But I’m stoked and maybe this will help some of you escape a bad HSA.

P.S. This is true for actively contributed HSAs too if your current employer uses an HSA provider you hate. Your employer’s payroll contributions to a specific HSA account are just their pipeline for new contributions. But that doesn’t lock those contributions in place - you are ALWAYS free to open a better HSA and transfer the funds out.