As more organizations study the Cadillac tax's implications, it's becoming clearer that even plans more along the lines of a Ford Focus could trigger the payment. And while there's growing opposition to the tax, with pressure on the Obama administration to alter or scrap it, currently it remains a looming reality.

The American Bankers' Association set out to investigate what the tax's effect on health savings accounts might be. What the research forecast was that nearly a quarter of existing health savings account plans would trigger the tax as it currently is written — but that just 3 percent would actually have to pay the tax in 2018.

The association's lead researcher admitted that the findings of how many plans might be technically liable weren't what he'd expected, and they set off alarm bells. Still, HSAs may be somewhat cushioned from the tax — and that cushion could buy plan administrator time to adjust on their end and hope for political salvation from the halls of Congress.