Healthcare startup thinking big

A Colorado Springs-based startup company hopes to benefit from the growth of a new type of account that helps workers save for health expenses.

Ron Diegelman, president of My-HealthFunds Inc., said he thinks health savings accounts will “catch on like 401k plans did” during the 1980s.

“This is a rapidly growing market,” Diegelman said after a news conference Wednesday at the Antlers Hilton hotel to announce the company’s plans to hire 200 workers in the Springs during the next five years. Workers will earn annual salaries of $30,000 to $45,000. “We look to grow very rapidly in the next 18 months.”

Diegelman and Rich Elfenbein started MyHealthFunds Inc. in December to help companies set up and administer health savings accounts.

The founders considered northern Virginia; Columbia, Md.; and Fargo, N.D., for their company’s headquarters but liked the Springs’ attractive business climate, labor pool and cluster of call centers operating, Diegelman said.

The Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. began helping the company find office space and workers this year after its lawyer alerted the EDC about MyHealth-Funds and its growth plans. The lawyer, Wendy Pifher, is a Holland & Hart LLP partner in Colorado Springs and an EDC board member.

“They are a high-growth company headquartered here. They have so much growth potential,” EDC President Mike Kazmierski said about My-HealthFunds. “If you talk about cutting health care costs, they are in the sweet spot for the entire country.”

Health savings accounts are designed to be used with highdeductible health plans — averaging about $3,500 per family compared with a $250 deductible for traditional health plans. High-deductible plans typically carry much lower monthly premiums.

Employers typically put those premium savings savings into workers’ health savings accounts to pay for deductibles, if needed, Diegelman said. Even after making that contribution, employers can save up to 22 percent on health care spending, he said.

“For a 200-employee company that could mean between $200,000 and $300,000,” Diegelman said. “We target companies with between 100 and 500 employees because they are struggling the most with health care costs and can feel the most benefit from this.”

Workers and their employers put an average of about $4,000 a year into such accounts. The accounts are exempt from federal income taxes and unspent funds can be rolled over into the following year.

Diegelman and Elfenbein financed MyHealthFunds Inc. with their “substantial six-figure” investment so the company could begin marketing in June. The company plans to sell stock to private investors next month and seek institutional investors by April.

MyHealthFunds has signed five clients in Colorado and is marketing its services to employers in Arizona and Texas with plans to expand to other states next year. The firm plans to double its nine-person work force by the end of this year.

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