To make educated decisions on your health benefits and to know how those decisions may affect your overall financial plan, it is important to understand the latest industry trends.

Some helpful hints:

• Health Savings Accounts (HSAs): Health Savings Accounts are a significant new option of consumer-directed plans that provide consumers with a high-deductible health plan with another opportunity to better plan for and fund their current and retiree health care expenses. HSAs offer a number of advantages to consumers — they are a tax-advantaged account where earnings grow tax-free and distributions for qualified medical expenses are tax-free. The employer, the individual or both can contribute to HSA funds. In addition, HSA funds can be carried over from year to year, are transferable from job to job, can be used into retirement and must be used with a high-deductible health plan.

• Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs): Health Reimbursement Arrangements, or employer-funded health benefits accounts, offer another option for consumers who are interested in having the flexibility of choosing how to manage their health care dollars. Benefits of these plans include reimbursements that are not taxable income, the ability to roll over unused dollars and the ability to save money for future health care needs — including retirement expenses.

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs): Flexible Spending Accounts, normally offered by employers, are another tool for consumers to use in their health care planning. By contributing to an FSA, consumers are exempt from paying taxes on contributions, thus reducing taxable income, while at the same time paying for medical expenses they expect to encounter during the year. Unlike HSAs or HRAs, FSAs are not transferable from job to job and they are subject to a "use it or lose it" provision, meaning that the funds must be used in the year they are accrued.

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