COLUMBIA, S.C. - Supporters say a new insurance plan with health savings accounts offered to state employees will give workers more options and allow them to choose the coverage that suits them best. But opponents say the plan won't help families already struggling to cover health care costs.

Under South Carolina's plan, state employees opting for a new, high-deductible health insurance plan also can participate in the health savings accounts.

That plan, which was approved by the budget board on Tuesday and will take effect in January, will have a deductible of $3,000 for individuals and $6,000 for a family and then cover 80 percent of the cost for care by in-network doctors and hospitals.

Workers would be able to save up to $2,600 for an individual and up to $5,150 for families through the health savings account. The coverage costs $9.28 monthly for single workers and $108.56 for families. An annual physical exam and flu shot are covered by the plan with no deductible.

The savings account is a new option. The state's plan was modeled after those created in last year's federal Medicare law.

South Carolina is one of only a handful of states to offer the savings account to state workers. Other states are considering similar measures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The health savings account is a newer model of the flexible spending accounts that already are offered to state employees.

The flexible spending account is tax-free money set aside for any medical expense, including those not normally covered by insurance, such as laser eye surgery.

The disadvantage of those accounts is that any money left at the end of the year is lost.

Money contributed to the health savings account, on the other hand, can be rolled over to the next year. These contributions can be used for current medical expenditures such as doctor visits and prescription drugs, but also for long-term care insurance premiums, COBRA continuation premiums or other health insurance premiums for the unemployed, retirees and Medicare.

Gov. Mark Sanford said the health savings account "puts us at the front of a wave nationally."

"A much more rational system, and one that involves a lot more personal freedom, is for a person to actually shop for the things that he or she wants as it relates to health care," Sanford said. "Everybody's different and they all have different needs. That's what a medical savings account does."

Mark Byers, a state employee who works for printing services at the University of South Carolina, said he's interested in switching plans to get the lower premium.

"In the 23 years I've been in state government, our premiums have gone through the roof," Byers said.

House Democratic Minority Leader James Smith, D-Columbia, said rising premiums could have been offset by an increase in the state's cigarette tax - a proposal routinely rejected by lawmakers. "We should have fully funded health care," Smith said.

State officials estimate a number of employees like Byers will switch plans. They expect the high deductible plan to attract up to 10 percent of the 350,000 people receiving state health insurance.

Sam Griswold, vice president of the Association of South Carolina State Retirees, said he's concerned that when people are pulled away from the standard insurance plan - which is used by the majority of state workers and retirees - it could mean higher insurance costs for those people.

"I don't want to see people get hurt," Griswold said.