How to be richer in retirement without saving more money

Among the pros: The account travels with you from job to job, and you have control over how the money's spent. (Granted, shopping around for medical care isn't something most of us really long to do.) The cons include, well, needing to shop around to get the most out of your HSA money, plus the fact that an unplanned illness could wreck your health-care spending budget. 

Individuals can contribute up to $3,350 a year in an HSA this year, and it's $6,650 for a family. Employers may seed it with some money. The reason financial planners get all goo-goo eyed about these accounts is that they are "triple tax-free."

You put pretax money in them, it grows tax-deferred, and you aren't taxed on the money you use for medical reasons. That's in contrast to a "use it or lose it" flexible spending account. After age 65, you can pull money out and use it for non medical reasons, and you'll pay regular income tax on it.

Here are more details on what that $220,000 covers, according to Fidelity: "The calculation takes into account cost-sharing provisions (such as deductibles and coinsurance) associated with Medicare Part A and Part B (inpatient and outpatient medical insurance). It also considers Medicare Part D (prescription drug coverage) premiums and out-of-pocket costs, as well as certain services excluded by Medicare.

The estimate does not include other health-related expenses, such as over-the-counter medications, most dental services, and long-term care." Fidelity notes that "the extra costs include health insurance premiums for the period prior to Medicare eligibility and estimated out-of-pocket costs."

Almost 60 percent of employees reported an employer contribution of $1,000 or more in 2013, according to an Employee Benefit Research Institute report. In 2014, that fell to 51 percent.