Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) is a long time supporter of the Health Savings Account program. A long time friend of the free market economy this latest bailout bill would seem to go against his very nature, but to let the market collapse would be the bigger crime. The Wall Street Journal with the write-up.

Mr. Ryan, perhaps the free market’s truest friend in Congress, earlier this week voted to help rescue that free market. He hated the Paulson plan, but hated more the economic crash he is convinced will follow inaction. And in casting his “yes” vote on Monday, he knew what was coming: “The easiest thing would be to vote no and go hide in my office and watch the markets collapse. I will suffer politically for this, but I will sleep at night.”

It’s one thing to know you are right, it’s another to do what’s right.

The Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog had an interesting post about people covered by High Deductible Health Plans who open Health Savings Accounts. Many people are covered with an HDHP, but not as many open up the Health Savings Account like they should. One way to fix this could be employer contributions.

Here’s one way to get people to bite: Offer up seed money. UnitedHealthcare came out with a survey of its customers today that showed 86% of people opened an HSA if their employer offered up a contribution. That’s compared to 27% when the employers kept their purse-strings tight, according to United. About two thirds of employers contribute to the accounts. (Keep in mind the survey wouldn’t have captured any folks who opened HSAs at banks other than United’s own bank.)

Each business is different, but I’d recommend any employer using HDHP’s to at least make the opening contribution to their employees HSA. For one, it’s a writeoff. Who doesn’t love writeoffs? Secondly, they’re likely saving a ton of money with an HDHP, why not pass on some of the savings to your employees? Sometimes a little money can go a long way.