Dr. John Goodman, of the Health Alert blog, has written an excellent blog post on the various options for covering health costs, besides conventional third-party insurance (FSA’s, HSA’s, HRA’s, Roth HSA’s and even 401k’s).  The current system is clearly haphazard, and could be improved without legislation.  Individual savings options will become more important in the coming years, whether the Affordable Care Act is upheld, overturned or partially preserved.  It would be a good use of resources to make the current savings options for paying health expenses more effective and more coordinated.