Early next year, more Iowans will be able to bank where they get their health insurance.

Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield will begin offering banking services to plan participants in 2008 through a relationship with Blue Healthcare Bank.

Yesterday, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association announced it had received approval from the Office of Thrift Supervision for Blue Healthcare Bank’s charter, which allows the Utah-based federal savings bank to offer health-care-related banking services in all 50 states.

The bank will allow consumers to pay for qualified medical expenses using a debit card linked to multiple personal accounts that can include health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts and health reimbursement arrangements.

Up to 19 Blue Cross Blue Shield companies are expected to begin offering the service this year. Wellmark will phase it in early next year, said Angela Feig, a Wellmark spokeswoman.

“We’re very excited about it,” she said. “It will be another option for our members.” Wellmark currently offers a banking option to its HSA participants through First Horizon Msaver Inc., a subsidiary of First Tennessee Bank N.A. Current Wellmark HSA holders will have the option to stay with that bank or switch to Blue Healthcare Bank.

The market for health-care banking is strong, according to research by the BCBSA. In 2006, 57 percent of HSA-eligible enrollees opened HSA accounts, and the U.S. Treasury Department estimates that 40 to 45 million Americans will be enrolled in HSA-eligible insurance plans by 2010.