Health Savings Account Blog

The high deductible health insurance policies are often coupled with health savings accounts, which allow consumers to set aside money tax free, and they can then use that money to pay for medical expenses not picked up by the insurer or for retirement.

The HSA plans paired with health savings accounts must have a minimum deductible of $1,050 for single coverage and $2,100 for family coverage. The Bush administration has aggressively pushed to make such accounts more popular by calling for further tax breaks for those who open them.

Critics of the administration's proposals say the accounts work best for younger, healthier workers, and they worry that employers are using high-deductible plans to shift costs to employees.

The GAO said the rising cost of health care coverage is the primary reason more employers offer the plans, and it noted analysts believe more employers will join the trend if the costs of insurance continues rising significantly.

The number of employers offering high-deductible insurance plans to their workers jumped from just 1 percent in 2004 to about 4 percent in 2005, the GAO noted.

Mohit Ghose, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group representing insurers, said members had worked hard in the past year to make health savings accounts and the high-deductible plans more accessible. He said about 30 percent of those purchasing the products were previously uninsured.

"That leads us to one conclusion, which is that this product will appeal to certain types of consumers," Ghose said. "And what's important in the long run is to have as much choice as possible so that consumers and their employers can make the coverage decision that suits them best."

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