HSAs: Latest Snake Oil

On Feb. 15, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, United States Comptroller General David Walker, said, "News flash: The largest, most complex and arguably the most important entity on the face of the earth recently failed an external audit for a ninth straight year. ... Worse yet, the accumulated liabilities and unfunded commitments for this entity have risen from about $20 trillion at the end of fiscal 2000 to more than $46 trillion at the end of fiscal 2005!" ...How is the federal debt being allowed to keep growing in the face of such a harsh criticism by our federal Comptroller General? The latest example of how this is happening was described in a story picked up only by MarketWatch and other financial news outlets. It said that monies in the Federal Employee Retirement Fund were not being reinvested as they should be, but were being used by the Administration as a short-term cash fix to avoid hitting the federal debt ceiling.