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The number of people enrolled in health savings accounts (HSA) has more than tripled in the last six years from 4.5 million people in January 2007 to 15.5 million in January 2013, according to America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade association that represents health insurers.

In the future, Cohen said he expects to see several options used more widely to lower costs, such as rewards for low cholesterol or keeping diabetes under control, incentives to join gyms and benefits for participating in healthy lifestyle programs.

The data also shows that businesses could save money while providing their employees with more choices, he said. Some of those choices, such as closed-network programs or single primary-care physician-based programs, have been avoided in the past because the common wisdom is that people don't like being limited by what doctors they may see.

A national survey by Aon Hewitt consultants suggests that the Affordable Care Act's taxes and fees add 1% to 2% in direct costs to employers.

The Aon Hewitt survey found that 44% of companies are considering offering workers just one health-insurance plan — a high-deductible plan — rather than offer a high-deductible plan plus a more traditional plan that covers 70% to 80% of medical costs.

But those people will not get government subsidies if their company offers affordable health insurance, defined as costing less than 9.5% of income.And such employees would lose their employer's contribution to their plan unless the company agreed to provide such a payment in lieu of coverage.

Congress might consider a future subsidy approach that recognizes that the affordability of insurance is a function of expected out-of-pocket costs and characteristics such as chronic disease, not simply premiums.

Consumers also value account features that simplify the health care funding experience, the survey found. More than 65% ranked debit cards and multi-channel (web/mobile) account access as “extremely valuable,” while 60% said they “highly value” self-service features such as the ability to submit claims via mobile devices. Seventy-five percent of consumers said they value integration of benefit accounts and insurance claim data to streamline the process of reviewing and paying