Ziegelbauer on health savings accounts:

Manitowoc County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer, writing in the Journal Sentinel about his county's work to lower health insurance costs (emphasis added):

We asked our insurers for quotes on a health savings account-based, high-deductible program...

The quotes blew our minds: cost savings of more than $7,000 per year on a family plan and better coverage than the current plan. We were able to offer our employees $3,000 in a fully funded health savings account. This account became their personal property, and with the money the county saved, we also eliminated more than $4,000 in employee costs for co-pays or premiums.

All that, and we were still able to save taxpayers nearly $2,600 per family plan.

I'd say it sounds just crazy enough to work, except it doesn't sound crazy.