HSA require a deductible of at least $1,300 for one person, so people have starting calling that a 'high' deductible from 2003 or so.
Before ACA you could by health insurance with a 15,000$ deductible as an individual. After, ACA the individual out of pocket maximum is $7,150 per year for an individual. So, now legally the maximum is below the old pre HSA threshold for 'high' deductible.
The HSA-tied minimum was the old threshold for "high-deductible" since the HSA/HDHP pairing was created, which was several years before Obama was elected.
This also added a lot of confusion as what was considered normal was suddenly called high.
It's not 'people', it's the government, for what that's worth.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969/ar02.html#en_US_2015_p...
