Less out-of-pocket, lower premiums—any intelligent North Carolina health insurance consumer is on the hunt to lower their insurance budget. With low premiums, though, comes another kind of cost: greatly increased deductibles, which can stress an already complicated situation, like accident recover, or a severe illness. In fact, it’s often simply unwise to chase lower monthly health insurance premiums at the expense of outlandish deductibles.

Many prudent insurance customers, though, have discovered the perfect way to avoid the crunch of high deductibles. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a relatively new insurance vehicle, allowing consumers the option of tax-deductible savings toward the resolution of future medical problems. That’s still not enough, though: currently, less than 10% of consumers nationwide (a mere three million) are taking the intelligent step of enacting a low-premium, high-deductible health insurance plan linked to a tax-free health savings account.