What Happens to Your HSA When You Change Jobs

When you change jobs, leaving your old position behind and moving to a new employer, your health savings account (HSA) comes with you. You retain complete control over it, and can keep paying your medical bills with the funds in your account. This is the case whether your HSA was set up through your former employer or whether you opened it yourself at a bank or other financial institution. You can only keep making contributions if your new job has a high-deductible health plan (HDHP).

A financial advisor can offer you additional guidance to help manage an HSA for your specific needs.

What Is an HSA?

An HSA is a special tax-advantaged account you use to pay for eligible health costs. Your contributions to the account are subtracted from your current taxable income. This can give you a deduction at tax time. Depending on your financial situation, it could even allow you to potentially fall into a lower tax bracket. When you withdraw money from the HSA to pay for qualified health costs, withdrawals are also free of taxes. Furthermore, you can invest the funds in the HSA, and any earnings accumulate tax-free.

Not just anyone can get an HSA. If you’re covered by Medicare, for instance, you aren’t eligible for an HSA. Others can only get an HSA if they have health insurance coverage through a high-deductible health plan. These are plans that have higher-than-normal deductibles.

For 2025, the minimum deductible for an individual plan is $1,650 (up from $1,600 in 2024). For a family plan, it’s $3,300 (an increase from $3,200 in 2024).

Some employers offer HSAs, but you can also open one yourself at many financial institutions. You can make HSA contributions directly or use a voluntary salary reduction to have your employer divert some of your pay into the account.

There are limits on how much you can contribute to an HSA in any given year. But the money stays there, and keeps growing until you use it.

HSA Options When Changing Jobs

A client discussing with her financial advisor what she can do with multiple health savings accounts (HSAs).

An HSA is a portable account, meaning it goes where you go. If you leave a job, your HSA comes with you. You can keep withdrawing funds from the account, tax-free, to pay eligible expenses as long as there is money in there. It is yours to keep. You may also have other options for your HSA depending on the situation.

If your new employer offers an HSA, you can open a new HSA through your workplace and start making contributions to it while still keeping your old HSA. Having more than one HSAs can offer some advantages.

For example, one HSA may have lower fees while the other has more diverse investment choices. Some employers also make contributions to your HSA in addition to contributions you make through voluntary salary reductions. This can justify opening a new workplace HSA even if you already have a personal HSA account.

Considering a Rollover

Another option if your employer has an HSA is to rollover your existing HSA, combining it with the new one. One benefit to doing a rollover is that multiple HSAs can complicate recordkeeping. Consolidating two HSAs can also save on fees, as many HSA providers charge a monthly maintenance fee per account.

If you aren’t covered by HDHP insurance at your new employer, you won’t be able to rollover your HSA into a new employer-sponsored one. Nor can you open a new HSA or keep making contributions to your existing HSA.

However, you can always keep your existing HSA. There’s also no cap on the number of HSAs you can have open. Nor is there a time limit on how long you have the account. If, later on, you take a new job or become covered by an HDHP, you can resume contributions.

What Happens to Employer Contributions When You Leave

Because HSA ownership stays with you, not your employer, any employer contributions already deposited into your account are yours to keep. This includes contributions your employer made directly or through a cafeteria plan while you were on their health plan.

However, some employer contributions are structured as matching dollars or seed contributions that are only deposited at specific times. If these funds have not yet been deposited when you leave, you generally forfeit them. Payroll deferrals also stop immediately when your employment ends, so you’ll need to make any future contributions on your own if you remain HSA-eligible.

Contribution Limits and Eligibility After a Job Change

If you change jobs mid-year, the annual IRS contribution limit still applies to the total amount you contribute across all of your HSAs combined. This means your contributions, plus anything your previous or current employer adds, must stay within the annual limit for self-only or family HDHP coverage.

For 2025, the maximum HSA contribution is $4,300 for individual coverage (that’s up from $4,150 in 2024). For family coverage, it’s $8,550 (an increase from $8,300 in 2024).

Your eligibility to contribute also depends on whether you remain covered by a high-deductible health plan. If you only have HDHP coverage for part of the year, your contribution limit may be prorated based on the number of months you were eligible. However, the last-month rule allows you to contribute the full annual limit if you are HSA-eligible on December 1 and remain eligible throughout the following 12 months.

Switching into or out of HDHP coverage mid-year can also affect your limit. If you move to a non-HDHP plan, you must stop making contributions as of the first day of the month in which you lose eligibility.

Bottom Line

A woman rolling over an old health savings account (HSA) to a new one.

HSAs are portable tax-advantaged accounts that go with you when you change jobs. This is true whether the HSA was opened through the employer or you opened it yourself at a separate financial institution. If you are covered by HDHP insurance and the new employer offers an HSA, you can roll your existing HSA into a new account. Alternatively, you can open a new HSA at your new employer, or just keep your old HSA. However, you can’t continue contributing to the HSA unless you are still covered by a HDHP insurance.

HSA Tips for Beginners

A health savings accounts offer a tax-advantaged way to save and invest for future health expenses. A financial advisor can help you make the most of this tool. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
You can estimate the future growth of funds invested in your HSA with the help of SmartAsset’s free, online investment calculator.