Canopy Financial on Monday said it received $8 million in funding from Foundation Capital that it plans to use to chase acquisitions.

The four-year-old company, which creates technology that assists banks and health plans in the management of consumer-controlled health savings accounts (HSAs), has now taken $23 million in financing in the last eight months and $29 million overall. (see Canopy Financial Banks $15M)

HSAs are tax-deductible savings accounts that may be used by consumers to pay qualified medical expenses. Supporters say HSAs allow individual consumers to take more control of their medical care choices through high deductible health plans.

Detractors contend HSAs siphon off reasonably healthy consumers from group insurance plans and so increase the industry’s burden in paying for the care of those with more severe medical issues.

Both Sens. Obama and McCain offer very different approaches to health care coverage whether it is provided by employers or paid for by individual consumers. But Canopy and its backers are convinced that both plans will include differing provisions for HSAs.

“We believe the key fundamentals around consumerism and health savings accounts are not going away irrespective of who is elected this year,” said Vik Kashyap, CEO of Canopy, which has offices in San Francisco and Chicago.

But Mr. Kashyap believes that Sen. McCain's plan will be less disruptive to current consumer-driven health care initiatives such as HSAs, while Sen. Obama's plan may require some redefinition of who best benefits from HSAs and how.

“If Senator McCain were elected my perception is there will be the belief that the industry will not be threatened in any way, but if Senator Obama is elected his plan will be conducive to the industry but it will not be as big a shot in the arm,” he said.

Senator McCain's plan will tax individuals for the amount of their insurance paid by their employers but will offer refundable tax credits, while Sen. Obama proposes a public plan to cover the uninsured and a consumer subsidy for private alternatives.