According to familiesusa.org, "HSAs won't cut healthcare costs and won't solve the healthcare crisis."  It's all right there in the video below.  Well, that assumes of course, you  watch it.  If you are one of those folks inclined toward literal interpretation of what you see, let us warn you that they have used a little thing call exaggeration to make their point.

The folks at Gradock find it amusing that these folks try to suggest that proponents of Health Savings Accounts have put these two concepts (that the HSA will cut costs and solve the crisis) forward as "THE" solutions to our country's healthcare woes.

If you would like to take a look at the other side of their one sided coin, please feel free to check out their position on HSAs which can be found on their website (click here to view it).

If you are drinking their kool-aid, then there is a chance you have been preyed upon.  That said, if you are reading this blog, you probably have based your decisions regarding yours and your family's health care on better information than can be found in this video, which while amusing, is tilted a wee bit to the left (of insanity).

Here's the thing.  HSAs are NOT the solution.  That's right, they are not the solution.   Honestly, we doubt if any proponent of HSAs has ever offered them up as they are being depicted in this video by the organization that produced it.

But they are part of the solution.  They can be used to help people save money for their healthcare.  They can encourage personal responsibility.  When combined with High Deductible Health Plans, they can help us think about the value of wellness help motivate us to take better care of our body temples.  They can be used to help reduce our tax liability to the US Government and allow us to keep a little bit more of the wages for which we work so hard.   As they accumulate and grow they can help us pay for our own healthcare as opposed to banking on someone else to do it for us.   HDHPs and HSAs together can help us pay less for insurance but still have enough funds to pay for serious medical situations.  They can help motivate us to becoming more educated healthcare consumers and smarter healthcare shoppers.  These concepts are apparently evil to the folks at the organization above.

Healthcare in the U.S. is a complicated puzzle.  You will not get an argument from Gradock on that.  But we believe Health Savings Accounts and High Deductible Health plans are puzzle pieces that to fit together as part of the solution.

Now here's a thought for anyone who should find themselves with a broken wrist, needing heart surgery, or out to dinner with a swordfish lodged in their back.  Go see a doctor.  Go see them now.  And by all means, use your HSA to help pay for the treatment!