THE HEALTHY SHOULD BE SAVING, NOT SPENDING ON "HEALTH CARE":

Why You Should Get a Health Savings Account (Philip Moeller, May 26, 2010, US News)

While you can use the HSAs to pay for expenses, some experts advise participants to let their HSA balances build up in they can afford it. Unlike health retirement accounts (HRAs), unspent balances in HSAs can rollover indefinitely from year to year. Unneeded plan balances can be invested like 401(k)s, and the earnings from these investments will never be taxed so long as withdrawals are spent on qualifying health expenses. And with such expenses in retirement looming as a big wild card, wouldn't it be nice to build up a tax-sheltered nest egg to help pay those bills when the time comes?

Financially, the only bad news about HSAs is that people can no longer contribute to them when they turn 65. There are exceptions when a 65-year-old person is still working and using private insurance and not Medicare. Or when that 65 year-old is still carried on the private health policy of a spouse who is still working. "Once you're enrolled in Medicare, you no longer can contribute into an HSA, but you can still use an HSA," says Kathy Campbell, head of product engineering at Aetna.

Medically, the impact of HSAs has so far been as eye-opening as their potential financial benefits. Employers and insurers have been sensitive to allegations that these lower-cost plans shift health spending to individuals so that employers can reduce health care benefit expenses. To date, however, any cost savings to employers have not been associated with reduced health care for employees.

Among large private insurers -- UnitedHealthcare, WellPoint, Aetna, and Cigna -- all said internal studies have persuasively shown that people with their high-deductible HSA plans actually take better care of themselves than people with traditional health insurance coverage. "People do not skimp on the care that they need," says Will Giaconia, vice president in charge of consumerism products at Cigna. "In fact, they get more engaged in their health."

It turns out that when people have their own money on the line, they become more informed health care consumers.