We were on a family vacation 3 years ago. My husband and I were awakened to, "Mom, Dad, Cari's not breathing!" Our 11 year old always healthy daughter, suffered a cardiac arrest. While she was being airlifted to a large medical center, I wondered who is going to pay for all of this. Fortunately we were covered by Golden Rule and had an HSA account. We simply paid the $4000.00 deductible (that was already in the HSA account) and everything else was covered. No co-pay for each and every diagnostic test, hospital admission, and outpatient visit. We incurred over $400,000 in medical bill for our daughter three years ago. Without the comprehensive coverage offered by our HSA plan we could well be homeless and paying down a huge debt. P.S. Our daughter is now doing well with an implanted pacemaker/defibrillator.

I am a broker. We work both in the group and individual market. Most of our business...85% comes from those involved in agriculture. Every group program that we offer is either 100% HSA qualified or at the very least is an option. Most employers are sharing in the funding of the Health Savings Accounts. We have been able to save thousands of dollars in premium plus the insured are taking a more active interest in their health care including when and how to use it. They are actually involved in the purchasing of health care and are much more aware of the real cost.

We had a couple of years where we had few health issues and we were able to build up some funds in our HSA account. These are pre-tax dollars. The last few years we had the funds to pay for some of the unexpected costs that came when two of our children work hurt during their activities. The thing that was mind boggling is how much we learned about the cost of care. The care at the ER cost us four times as much as the emergency clinic that we used for similar injuries. In the past, we did not know the complete cost differential. We also have been willing to try other medications and the cost savings is very large.

Mine is a common story: I was released from a large company that I had been with for 17 years, an international advertising agency, in November of 2007. There were certainly no bonuses attached, though I did receive a small severance package. COBRA covered me briefly after I was let go, but the continuation cost of insurance for my family of four was astronomical, almost $1500 a month. In the Midwest, that is simply too much to pay. I researched many plans and landed on an HSA for this simple reason - as a newly self-employed individual, it seemed the only plan that truly made sense for my family and will continue to make the most sense in this volatile economy. The premium is finally reasonable - this needs to be stressed far more than it has been. I enrolled in a $5800 deductible plan the first year and am going to raise that deductible to $10,000 this year. Many families cannot fathom a deductible that high - especially since I had frozen my 401k, leaving it in my former employer's account, which of course began to lose and lose and lose over 2008. 50% of its value lost in one year. But the HSA became another replacement savings plan for the future. It was not losing money over the really ugly 2008, it was gaining ... just modestly. But in 2008, modest gains were a wonderful thing to hold on to. The money invested in the HSA will be contributed to and will grow again this year - so if there should be any unforeseen medical emergencies, even this year, most of the deductible will be covered by this HSA savings. After the deductible is hit, the family will be covered for 100% of any major healthcare expenses. Because of the much lower premium, it is reasonable and makes sense. Promote the HSA! The more that truly understand them, believe in them and invest in these plans will only help with premium costs, keep medical savings in place for families for their futures and help employers with lowered costs for their own plans.