Are you frustrated because a percentage of your employees do not participate in your group health insurance plans, restricting your ability to seek other health insurance options? Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) may be a solution for your company.
REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: Recently, an employer approached us because they could not change carriers and their premiums continued to increase. The health insurance carrier they were with did not require 50% of their employees to participate in the group health insurance plan. Other carriers do. The employer felt trapped in a plan with no options.
What we did: We recommended the new Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA). As of January 1, 2020, employers may offer to reimburse employees for individual health insurance premiums. This is not a blanket option to choose individual or group health insurance. It is much more involved and specific legal documentation is required.
In collaboration with the client, we created an ICHRA for the hourly employees. The majority of hourly employees did not want to pay anything for health insurance. The employer could not afford to pay 100% of the employee’s health insurance.
The ICHRA provided a vehicle to keep the group insurance for the management and administrative staff while still offering the hourly staff medical benefits at the same premium cost they would have had if they stayed on the group plan.
The ICHRA solution solved two problems. The employer could now look at different health insurance options for the administrative and management team and the hourly employees had an affordable policy should they so desire.
Have a problem with your group health insurance – let us work with you to find a solution. Braden Benefits is recognized by our clients and peers as an innovator and problem solver in the employee benefit arena. Let’s talk!