Chen May Yee, who writes about health insurance and the business of health care for the Star Tribune, knows all about the ins and outs of Health Savings Accounts. In a story posted today on Startribune.com she explains why calling them “savings accounts” may be a misnomer. Here is her post:

A few weeks ago, I got a voice mail from someone named Josh Gruber. It was about health savings accounts and how they’re working out. Or not working out, at least for him.
Now we get a fair number of calls from people about their health situation. They’re often very interesting (okay, sometimes not) but they’re usually not really applicable to anyone else. Or the story changes during the telling. Or something.
Gruber was different. Sixty three and semi-retired, he was clear, concise and knew the value of his own story. In 2004, he said, he signed up for a low premium, high-deductible plan from Blue Cross with a health savings account. For three of the four years since, he said, premiums were up in the doubled-digits.
My ears perked up.
Now if you haven’t heard of these new-fangled plans, you must have been living in a cave.
They’re based on a fascinating concept: In exchange for a lower premium (and who doesn’t want that?), you get a higher deductible and pay for medical expenses with pre-tax dollars from a health savings account. The onus is on you, the consumer, to keep spending down.
They’ve been sold as the best new idea in American health care since, well, managed care. And if your employer hasn’t already offered you the option, they probably will within the next three years.
At the paper, we’ve been documenting the expansion of these plans with interest. But because they’re so new, we haven’t really got a sense of how well they’ve worked for people.
Gruber had a four-year experience with his plan and several complaints. In essence, he was mad because he was paying more out-of-pocket and not getting protection from premium increases.
The story - along with responses from Minnesota’s health plans - is in today’s paper.

Do you have a high-deductible plan with an HSA? How well is it working for you?