How popular are health savings accounts? Consider this. 

In a market where health insurance costs continue to rise for employers, more companies are turning to high-deductible health plans —and the accompanying health savings accounts to defray costs, writes the Springfield  (Missouri) Business Journal.

An estimated 7 million people are covered by 2.2 million health savings accounts as of the beginning of 2008, according to a survey by industry publishing company Atlantic Information Services Inc. Those accounts hold $3.2 billion, up 60% from $2 billion at the beginning of 2007.

Several banks that offer health savings accounts say the accounts' popularity is growing — especially among small businesses that want to reduce their costs while still offering insurance benefits to employees. And demand for HSAs is only expected to continue. The U.S. Treasury Department estimates that, assuming the laws regulating HSAs are unchanged, up to 30 million people will be covered by HSAs by 2010.