"The vast majority of employers that offer HSA-qualified high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) offer the ability for employees to make pre-tax payroll HSA contributions and even encourage them to do so. For now, such contributions count towards the calculation of the gross cost of 'high cost' health coverage for excise tax purposes. Should employers take away the pre-tax payroll HSA contribution feature from their cafeteria plans? Otherwise, an HDHP with a lower gross cost than a traditional PPO plan may actually end up triggering a greater excise tax because any employee pre-tax payroll HSA contributions would get tacked on to the total cost of the employer's health coverage."