The Bush administration continues to tout Health Savings Accounts as a means of reducing healthcare costs.

Last week, Treasury Secretary John Snow visited Associated Material Handling Industries in Carol Stream, Illinois, which will be offering HSAs as a health-coverage option to their employees beginning this summer.

"With the addition of HSAs to your health coverage options, Associated Material Handling Industries is joining large and small employers across America who are choosing to offer this affordable option to their employees," Snow said. "I think it's a great option to have because choosing an HSA over traditional insurance plans puts patients in charge of their health-care purchasing decisions. That's why the creation of HSAs was so important ­ it was historic, really, because it embraces a philosophy that favors the individual, versus an employer or the government."

President Bush has proposed an expansion of HSAs by making premium costs deductible from income and payroll taxes when purchased by individuals, raising the cap on the amount of money that can be saved in an HSA, and making the high-deductible insurance plan that accompanies an HSA fully portable.

"HSAs are a good product. They're working," Snow said. "Savvy employers are offering them to their employees, and they are opening up an affordable option to small employers that might not have been able to afford health insurance otherwise. I'm thrilled that the employees of Associated Material Handling Industries, Inc. are going to have the option of HSAs soon, and I hope that in the near future all Americans have a chance to start HSAs that have all the tax benefits of traditional health insurance."

President Bush is also touting HSAs as he visits with employers across the country. Last week, Bush praised HSAs at Wendy's International headquarters in Dublin , Ohio .

HSAs are tax-exempt trusts or custodial accounts established exclusively to pay qualified medical expenses. To be eligible for HSAs, individuals must be covered by a high deductible health plan.

Critics say HSAs will make the healthcare system weaker because they will attract young and healthy workers and drive up the costs for others and alter the shared-risk dynamic.

Bush and Snow say HSAs are a more affordable option than traditional health plans.

"HSAs are a good product. They're working," Snow said. "Savvy employers are offering them to their employees, and they are opening up an affordable option to small employers that might not have been able to afford health insurance otherwise."

More than 3 million people are enrolled in high-deductible health plans that qualify for health savings accounts (HSAs), according to America 's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a trade association. However, it is still unclear how many workers have opened and contributed to an HSA.