By choosing a Health Savings Account (HSA), you are betting on yourself... in a way. If you stay healthy, then with a typical health insurance plan you're just out a lot of money. With an HSA, not only will you pay significantly less in premiums, but at the end of the year you have a nice deposit of up to $5,650 sitting in your account. Money which you didn't pay any federal income taxes on, state income taxes (with the exception of four states) on, or social security taxes.

Let's say a 30-year old man with a family opens a Health Savings Account and has a high-deductible health plan that allows him to fund the account with $5,650 each year. If he takes $1,000 or less out each year for medical expenses, and earns a 10% return on his money, he'll have $1,422,878 when he retires.

The best way to accumulate this much money in your HSA is to stay healthy, so that you don't need to access your funds to pay for medical expenses. The good news is that the vast majority of diseases and disorders people have are the direct result of their lifestyle choices. High blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, digestive disorders, endometriosis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and more, are all largely preventable.

The Average Guy Doesn't Get It

The average American lives as if social security, a few prescriptions, and some good luck will take care of him in his later years. So he saves little for retirement. He eats packaged foods like French fries, chips, cokes, pasta, and cold cuts. And over the years he puts on "a few extra pounds", and he gets out-of-shape, and he gets high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and eventually heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or Alzheimer's.

Insurance Companies Get It

Some insurance companies do understand the tremendous impact lifestyle can have on health, and are beginning to institute programs to encourage healthy lifestyles among their customers. Healthy policyholders will use their coverage less, resulting in lower rates for them, and better customer retention and higher profitability for the insurance company. Some insurance companies started new programs designed to help reward their customers for staying healthy. The programs can provide personalized health-improvement plans, health risk assessments, email access to trainers and counselors, and even credits that can be redeemed for health-related merchandise.

HSA Owners Get It

People who open Health Savings Accounts are proactive. They act ahead of time, and think about how their actions now will affect their future. That is why they put away tax-deferred money for future possible health expenses, and that is why many are also interested in taking a proactive approach to their health. Choosing to live a healthy life, and actively making lifestyle changes, is an activity that will bring great returns. Tax-free, just like an HSA.