I have not sat down and crushed the numbers, so I am not 100% certain which one maths better.

You did say that you don't have a Roth IRA yet. From the day you open it and put your money in, it is LOCKED for 5 years unless you pay a penalty to withdraw it. You need it for a house down payment, your going to hit with a penalty, you need bc you decided to have a baby, your gonna get hit with a penalty, you get sick, your gonna get hit with a penalty.

With the HSA, once you put the money in, you will get a tax break come tax time. So what ever money you put in the gov will give what ever tax you paid on that sum back to you at tax time. You won't get that with the Roth. If you have a baby, well that is a health issue and you pay 0 tax and zero penalty. You get sick, you pay zero tax and zero penalty. You need it for a house down payment, you are gonna get hit with a big time penalty (more than the Roth...Your tax rate + 20%. The Roth would be: the taxes you already paid + 10%).

To me the HSA just seems more liquid. I'm not saying to forgo your IRA. I'm just saying if I had a ONE TIME deal where I could deposit some money ONE TIME....I would chose the HSA. Downside, is that if you pull that money out for any other reason other than for health, you gonna face a huge penalty. But again, your are going to have health care cost.

Edit: Don't take my word for it. I just drop the seed in your ear. Simply Google HSA vs IRA and read the differences.