Insurance companies gained millions of reasons on Wednesday to offer high-deductible health insurance plans as Gov. Sonny Perdue signed legislation aimed at making the plans more affordable and more widely available.

"This legislation encourages more consumer choice by making quality, affordable health care coverage more available," Perdue said from the lobby of Atlanta Medical Center.

The bill, HB 977, was one of dozens Perdue signed into law Wednesday.

The governor was joined at the hospital near downtown by the bill's co-sponsors and by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

Gingrich's Center for Health Transformation backed the legislation, and the former congressman praised it Wednesday.

Paired with new health savings accounts, the high-deductible plans encourage consumers to be more responsible for their own health care, he said.

"All that is ideal," Gingrich said. "All that moves us in the right direction."

The bill would exempt insurers from paying taxes on premiums in the sale of the high-deductible savings account plans. Companies previously paid a tax of at least 2.5 percent on premiums.

An independent analysis of the bill, HB 977, by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, a critic of special-interest tax breaks, said it would give insurance companies $146 million in tax breaks over five years. That is compared to the estimated $64.8 million in savings to employers and $6.7 million for individuals.

Supporters, including Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta), who sponsored companion legislation in the Senate, said insurance companies would pass the savings on to consumers.

Gingrich said up to 500,000 Georgians could gain health insurance through the bill. Critics, however, say the working poor don't have the money to pay even lower premiums these plans offer or the extra money to deposit into health savings accounts.

The accounts are funded with pretax dollars, and deposits grow tax-free. It's also tax-free when spent on health care.

Other bills Perdue signed into law Wednesday include:

• House Bill 983, which allows out-of-state law enforcement officers in high-speed chases to cross the Georgia border to pull over motorists attempting to elude them.

• House Bill 1090, which requires pharmacies to submit detailed prescription records, including behavioral medications prescribed for children.

• Senate Bill 406, which increases the penalties for video piracy.

• Senate Bill 430, inspired by the case of Meredith Emerson, the woman who was kidnapped and killed by a drifter in North Georgia in January. The bill makes it easier for Georgia law enforcement agencies to compare DNA evidence collected from criminal investigations in Georgia with evidence collected in other states.

Staff writer Ben Smith contributed to this article.