3 Reasons to Offer ICHRA During Renewal Season

Renewal season offers companies the opportunity to sign up for new health insurance plans or renew their current plans. Fluctuating renewal rates, contract negotiations, and the shifting needs of an employee base often cause the renewal season to be a stressful time for employers.

Companies are encouraged to take this period to ensure that their health plan offerings and strategy align with organizational needs. Comprehensible health benefits lead to increased satisfaction and productivity among employees. Companies of all sizes can benefit from offering Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) as an option to employees during this renewal season.

1. Directly Address the Needs of Employees with an ICHRA

Instead of doing backflips to find a traditional plan that employees won’t hate this renewal season, give them the freedom to select the plan they truly need with an ICHRA.

Traditional group plans can trap employees in one-size-fits-all plans that fail to account for individual healthcare needs. An ICHRA allows employees to select their own healthcare, and they are then reimbursed by employers for qualified medical expenses and insurance premiums. This allows flexibility for employees to select and pay only for the coverage that they need by enrolling through the ACA Marketplace.

Employers can offer both traditional group plans and an ICHRA during this renewal season for a customized benefits offering. The ICHRA plan platform can be offered as a stand-alone benefit offering or in tandem with a group plan. Based on employee cases, employers can offer either an ICHRA or group plan, the caveat being that they cannot offer a group plan and ICHRA to the same employee class. This flexibility allows the customization necessary to satisfy all employee benefits needs.

2. Eliminate the Unexpected Price Hikes that Come with the Renewal Season

The average cost of traditional group plans has been steadily increasing by 3% to 5% over the past several years. Renewal seasons has been plagued with group insurance prices hikes that few companies can comfortably afford.

As plan costs continued to rise, individual plans became the more affordable option for employers. Instead of sacrificing wither the yearly budget or high-quality health benefits for their employees, more and more employers are considering the transition to an ICHRA solution.

Additional cost-saving options for an ICHRA include:

• Option for unused annual funds to be returned to the company
• Reimbursement limits varied across eleven different employee classes
• Vary amount based on family size or age

3. ICHRA Simplifies the Renewal Process Moving Forward

Getting everything aligned to implement a new vendor, negotiate annual rates, and ensuring the best plans for your employees is a massive undertaking for companies. ICHRA simplifies the process for future years by eliminating the need for employers to select health insurance vendors and specific plans.

ICHRA offers the advantage of employees managing their own health plans. Businesses recognize that they can reduce risks by removing the need to manage renewals. Instead of trying to choose a plan that fits every employee’s provider network, it may be time for an ICHRA.

ICHRA Grows with the Company

ICHRA encompasses far more employee types compared to other HRAs and can be a health benefits solution for any sized business, not just those with 50 or fewer employees. The ability for employers to stick with the same affordable insurance offering regardless of employee size makes ICHRA a low-maintenance solution for providing health benefits.

Additionally, employers have the flexibility to adjust ICHRA business-rules to best fit the growing needs of the company.

Under an ICHRA, employers can decide how much they want to contribute the reimbursement account and what they would like the ICHRA to reimburse:

ICHRAs can cover:

• Insurance Premiums
• Insurance Premiums + Qualified Medical Expenses
• Qualified Medical Expenses

Switching over an ICHRA allows employers the freedom to avoid yearly renewal process negotiations while effortless adapting to fit the changing needs of the company.

When your company is ready to take the next step with setting up an ICHRA, you might still have some questions about getting started or exploring how to customize your process. Contact W3LL to explore getting your ICHRA in place and help you decide the best way forward. For personalization and flexibility in employee reimbursement benefits, the ICHRA is a great option.