Health savings accounts help with costs

Paired with high-deductible health care plans, health savings accounts help ease health care costs. The accounts are a triple tax-advantaged vehicle in the tax code, allowing for pretax contributions, tax-free compounding and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses. However, few owners fund their health savings accounts to the maximum, and even fewer invest those dollars outside a savings account.

Most consumers likely don't fill their health spending accounts because they lack the financial means; critics note that the HDHP/HSA combination can be less beneficial for lower-income workers. But even wealthy consumers may decline to fully fund their accounts. Many of them charge account-maintenance fees and extra costs for investing in long-term assets.

Unlike 401(k)s, where par