Companies, Products & Outcomes

CareGain / Policy & product milestones

HealthcareIRA™ & the development of HSAs

Product invention, Congressional advocacy, Treasury and IRS guidance, and commercialization.

1. March 2001

   Filed the foundational HealthcareIRA™ patent

   Gupta AK. SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES. Gupta wrote the patent and is its sole named inventor. His HealthcareIRA™ invention combined individual healthcare accounts, benefits administration, health information and long-term healthcare financial planning.

   Publication #

   WO2002077764 A3

   Application #

   PCT/US2002/008663

   Publication date

   May 1, 2003

   Current owner

   Aetna, Inc.

2. 2001

   Co-founded CareGain to commercialize HealthcareIRA™

   Having originated the HealthcareIRA™ model, Gupta brought in former banker and financier David Lenihan as a company co-founder to commercialize the invention.

3. 2001–2003

   HealthcareIRA™ as the basis for HSA legislation

   HSA legislation was written on Gupta’s HealthcareIRA™ model. He worked directly with House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas and Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Nancy Johnson on its legislative development and tax treatment. Correspondence from Johnson’s office on June 3, 2003 requested comments from Gupta and Lenihan on the accompanying materials.

4. February 2002

   Workforce describes the CareGain model and savings

   Shari Caudron described CareGain’s personal healthcare accounts, shared unused balances and employees’ ability to take accumulated funds when leaving an employer. The article quoted Gupta’s average employer-savings estimate and illustrated the economics with a 100-employee client example.

   Quoted average employer savings

   About 25% — Gupta’s reported estimate

   Client example

   100 employees

   Annual premiums

   $800,000 → $490,000

   Premium reduction

   $310,000

   Employee accounts funded

   $250,000 total; $2,500 per employee

   Upfront savings

   $60,000

   Conditional additional savings

   $87,500 if only 30% of account funds are used

   Workforce — February 2002, pp. 28–34 (online archive: June 20, 2002)

5. 2002

   Future healthcare savings — documented by EBRI

   EBRI recorded Gupta’s vision of employees saving for future healthcare expenses through CareGain’s model—the long-term healthcare-savings principle that later became central to HSAs.

   “employees will respond to an opportunity to save for future health care expenses, which will lead to real cost savings for the employers today, which is where CareGain is turning the theory into practice.”

6. 2003

   Health Savings Accounts enacted into federal law

   The federal HSA framework became law, bringing the consumer-owned healthcare-account model originated as HealthcareIRA™ into federal legislation.

7. April 14, 2004

   U.S. 1 calls CareGain a healthcare-savings pioneer

   Barbara Fox reported CareGain’s major CIGNA contract and linked its expansion to the December 2003 HSA legislation. The article described growth from four employees two years earlier to 30 employees, alongside plans to hire 75–100 people. CareGain’s Defined-Care platform would support the CIGNATURE suite, planned for benefit plans starting after January 1, 2005.

   “a pioneer in the area of healthcare savings accounts”

   Reported employee growth

   4 employees in 2002 → 30 in 2004

   Reported hiring plans

   75–100 people; planned, not reported as completed

   Major implementation

   CIGNA HealthCare / CIGNATURE suite

8. 2004

   U.S. Treasury & IRS guidance

   Provided further HSA guidance to the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

9. 2004

   NJTC investment & New Jersey recognition

   CareGain received investment from the NJTC Venture Fund, backed in part by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and was recognized during Governor James E. McGreevey’s administration as its consumer-directed healthcare platform expanded.

10. September 24, 2004

    CareGain mentioned in a CRS Report for Congress

    The Congressional Research Service’s Health Savings Accounts report (RL32467) identifies Evolution Benefits with CareGain among announced integrated HSA products. This is a research mention of an HSA offering, not a congressional endorsement.

    CRS Report for Congress, RL32467 — p. CRS-14 (PDF page 17)

11. 2006

    CareGain acquired by Fiserv

    Commercialized HealthcareIRA™ through CareGain, raised $8M in strategic and venture financing, and transacted the company to Fiserv for $40M in January 2006.