Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesHealthcare

How a Side Hustle Evolved Into One of the Largest HSA Providers

Challenges in healthcare impact every player—payers, HSA providers, and patients. What’s the modern-day answer to rising costs and better care? It’s a complex answer, and Steve Neeleman, Founder & Vice Chairman of HealthEquity, spoke with I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson on the topic. After working for Southwest Airlines, Neeleman graduated from medical school and served…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Healthcare teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

Promoted content from I Don't Care on MarketScale.

Share

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Healthcare?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Healthcare coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

Challenges in healthcare impact every player—payers, HSA providers, and patients. What’s the modern-day answer to rising costs and better care? It’s a complex answer, and Steve Neeleman, Founder & Vice Chairman of HealthEquity, spoke with I Don’t Care host Kevin Stevenson on the topic.

After working for Southwest Airlines, Neeleman graduated from medical school and served as a trauma surgeon. At the same time, he started HealthEquity. “The question was why don’t we treat our customers, patients, the same way we did at Southwest. The notion became consumer-directed healthcare, opening up opportunities for them to make better choices.”

Personal health issues also sparked the ideas around managing health savings accounts (HSAs). He and his daughter faced these, with high out-of-pocket costs. Something that many insured people experience every day.

HIPAA had a pilot program for HSAs and then extended it. It’s your money, and you don’t pay taxes on it. It functions like a 401K,” Neeleman explained.

Neeleman described the future of HSA providers and healthcare spending, citing its need to connect with centers of excellence. He recalled that after passing his surgical boards, he wasn’t an expert at every surgery because medicine is complicated. “Centers of excellence have completed a procedure many times. If you marry that with consumer-directed healthcare, payers will direct patients there because it saves money, and the quality of care is better.”

Educating patients about health savings account and concepts of navigating their healthcare is part of the equation. Neeleman also speaks to doctors about them. “Doctors are trying to embrace consumerism. They didn’t use to have to be attractive to get patients.”

Transforming How Lower-Middle Market Healthcare Firms are Represented

Which Innovations Are Set to Transform the Medical Device Market?

Regulation F Brings New Regulations to Debt Collection. Here’s How It Impacts Healthcare.

I Don't Care

Part of this channel

I Don't Care

Candid healthcare leadership conversations with Kevin Stevenson

Visit the channel

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Healthcare starts with a company putting its clinicians, service-line leaders, and field engineers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Service-line buyers vet vendors quietly, and your clinicians become the proof they find while doing it.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Healthcare, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Healthcare: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Healthcare buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Healthcare expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your clinicians, service-line leaders, and field engineers into the articles, video, and social content Healthcare buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Healthcare Insights

Medicare will pay up to $137.53 per case in 2027 for BriefCase‑Triage

Medicare will pay up to $137.53 per case in 2027 for BriefCase‑Triage

Radiology Business reported Medicare will pay a maximum of $137.53 per case in 2027 for BriefCase-Triage. Holland & Knight said hospitals will be eligible for NTAP reimbursement for use of Aidoc’s CARE Body CT Multi-Triage beginning Oct. 1, 2026, with supplemental payments continuing for three years.

  • 01Radiology Business reported Medicare will pay a maximum of $137.53 per case in 2027 for BriefCase-Triage.
  • 02Holland & Knight said CMS approved an NTAP designation for Aidoc’s CARE Body CT Multi-Triage, with hospitals eligible for NTAP reimbursement beginning Oct. 1, 2026, with supplemental payments continuing for three years.

Sep 23, 2026

Blair Health raises CAD $4.24M to expand its LLM-guided specialty care workflows

Blair Health raises CAD $4.24M to expand its LLM-guided specialty care workflows

Blair Health raised CAD $4.24 million in a pre-seed round, according to Fierce Healthcare. It plans to expand protocol-driven virtual specialty care across Canada and the U.S.

  • 01Blair Health raised CAD $4.24 million in pre-seed funding.
  • 02Qualified Health positions its AI platform around safety and governance, including clinician oversight, auditability and traceability, according to Fierce Healthcare.

Sep 23, 2026

NICE recommends Enhertu for HER2-low advanced breast cancer in England

NICE recommends Enhertu for HER2-low advanced breast cancer in England

American Pharmaceutical Review reported that NICE has recommended Enhertu for routine NHS use in people with HER2-low advanced breast cancer, following a commercial agreement and updates to NICE’s methods under the U.K.-U.S. Pharmaceutical Pricing Agreement.

  • 01NICE tied the reversal to 2026 changes: higher cost-effectiveness thresholds that took effect in April and a new quality-of-life assessment method published Aug. 27, 2026.
  • 02Access planning still varies by nation: Fierce Pharma reported Wales requires funding within 60 days of final guidance, while Scotland and Northern Ireland follow separate processes.

Sep 21, 2026

Explore More Healthcare Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Healthcare.

Browse Healthcare Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Healthcare and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512