A system and method for the purchase of products, where some products may
eligible for special forms of payment, such as payment from a medical
savings account (MSA). A POS terminal is used to obtain a product ID
(from a product bar code) and an MSA account ID from an MSA account card.
The product and account IDs are provided to a database where MSA
eligibility and MSA account status information is accessed and retrieved.
A display at the POS terminal separates and displays information on both
the eligible and non-eligible products. The POS terminal may used to pay
for eligible products by electronically debiting the MSA account, and to
pay for non-eligible products by traditional methods, such as cash, check
or credit card. Eligible products may be given price discounts, and
discount information is also retrieved from the database.