You try to do the best you can do to attract and retain employees. You’ve risked your own money to build your business. You’re self-funded. But then, as government interference in your health plan grew, your risk took on a whole new dimension.
Your risk grew beyond pure medical claim risk to include social and governmental risk. Punishing government mandates and sanctions threaten to bankrupt your business. Lawyers sensing opportunities dwarfing the Big Tabacco Settlements Era, are lurking in the shadows encouraging calls from plan members across the Fruited Plains.
What do you do? How do you get out of the health insurance business? How can you better manage punishing social and government risk factors?
The answer is ICHRA.
RELATED BLOG POSTINGS:
ICHRA Administrator Raises $100,000,000
“ICHRA provides Remodel’s customers with predictable annual benefits costs, driving stability and an average of 30% savings….”Posted onDecember 23, 2024CategoriesUncategorized Edit
Thatch Partners With Quickbooks To Bring ICHRA To Millions Of Small Businesses
This is more evidence of the explosive growth of ICHRA, compelling evidence tech-based vendors lead the future of health care financing and market distribution.
HealthCare.gov Open Enrollment Starts Amid Rising Interest in ICHRAs
Interest in ICHRAs has surged, with a 100% increase in search activity compared to last year.
If we haven’t convinced you yet, let’s do a little side-by-side comparison of group plans and ICHRAs
By Stacy Edgar Happy First Day of Medicare Open Enrollment! It’s that time of year when our TV screens will feature this guy here.
Large Employer Adoption of ICHRA Is Growing Exponentially
ICHRA BLITZKREIG DEFEATS LEGACY GROUP HEALTH PLANS “Entering their fifth year as a tax-advantaged solution for employer-sponsored insurance, Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs) had nearly 30% year over-year growth from 2023 to 2024, with Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) as the fastest growing cohort.”
ICHRA: Believers VS Non-Believers
ICHRA has spawned a lot of interest on Linkedin these days, a running commentary between proponents and non-believers. Who’s right?
ICHRA Quotes Are A Cost-Saving No-Brainer
“These risk pools are now bigger than some of the largest employers in the country, and larger risk pools offer volume discounts and better pricing.”
ICHRA – The Emergence Of A Competitive Market
By Joe Markland We have developed a new model for ICHRA based on in depth analysis of the market.
ICHRA made simple should be……………………….
ICHRA Prospects Every 20 Minutes
“The picture above is a snapshot of my inbox from yesterday morning alone.” By Stacy Edgars on Linkedin: If you haven’t heard from me in a few weeks, this picture explains why. For the last four weeks straight, we’ve been contacted by a new employer every 20 minutes, looking to be onboarded to ICHRA.
Marsh McLennan is actively promoting ICHRAs in partnership with Venteur.
ICHRA – A Cost Controlled Environment
Members become a part of the largest health insurance risk pool in the United States.
“Just ran an affordability calculation for a 235 life group with employees in several states in less than a minute. Making the complex so easy!” – Lisa Collins
Are You Paying Too Much For ICHRA?
By Brad ONeil A new way for employers and brokers to think about #ICHRA. Lower the cost, buy your resources for the year. Are you paying too much for ICHRA?
Average 2025 Requested Rate Change for Texas ICHRA Coverage = 3.38%
SOURCE: EHealth Average requested rate change for Texas in 2025 is 3.38%
How To Set Up and Self-Administer an ICHRA for just $199
SOURCE: Core Documents By Gene Ennis If your group is eligible you can set up and self-administer an ICHRA for just $199 for the required plan documents. The only pressing issue right now would be choosing your future effective date and distributing the required ICHRA 90 Day Notice in advance of that effective date.
SOURCE: ICHRA Administration Software For many employers, offering a traditional group health insurance plan isn’t feasible. Insurance is often too expensive, too complex, and too restrictive. Yet organizations with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) must offer health insurance to their full-time employees—or be subject to penalties from the IRS.
Eight Predictions, Insights And Musings On The ICHRA Market
“Creative destruction is hard in any industry and insurance has a poor history of it, but anyone with a lot of employee benefits revenue not thinking about the ICHRA market could find they are waking up too late.” – Sam Melamed
ATTN Brokers – Insource Your ICHRA Instead of Outsourcing To Competitors
“We built ICHRAOS, to enable our resellers to in-source their ICHRA offerings instead of outsourcing to their ICHRA administrator/broker competitors.” — Michael Pires. Co-Founder & CEO
Fallacy: ICHRA Networks Are Inadequate
An attorney called us several months ago. He represents a Texas brokerage active in the Texas school district market. The brokerage apparently felt threatened by our ICHRA marketing efforts for Texas school districts struggling for solutions to high cost health insurance.
Why do Health Plans Need a Comprehensive Solution to Offer ICHRA Plans?
August 8, 2024 FacebookXLinkedInEmail The small group market is the backbone of every health plan. Yet, this market is undergoing unprecedented levels of disruption.
ICHRAs, Disintermediation, and the Opportunity for Brokers
“Some brokers will do everything that they can to deflect client requests to evaluate an ICHRA program to replace their group model. That approach is fraught with danger, particularly when unlicensed sellers can deliver a solution.” – Bill Stuart
Not all ICHRA administrators treat insurance agents the same. Many administrators “own” the account and can terminate the agent at will. And they keep all commissions as Agent of Record and pay the broker nickels and dimes and other strange things. Others, like the one described below, treat agents better.
How To Calculate ICHRA Affordability
The cost of health insurance for an employee must not exceed 9.12 percent of the employee’s income.
Can the TRS ActiveCare (TRSAC) government health insurance program for Texas school districts effectively compete with ICHRA? Which is better? It’s up to the reader to decide.
EMPLOYEE OWNED HEALTH INSURANCE unleashes the power of free market choice: “I’ll take the plan with the rate reduction!”
The Insurance Industry is Passing the Torch to ICHRA
“Since 2020, I have been 100% focused in the ICHRA industry. The ICHRA Shop is NOT an ICHRA administrator but a broker’s broker, a GA for ICHRA, and consultants to large employers.”
ICHRA Sales ExplodePosted onAugust 8, 2024CategoriesUncategorized Edit
ICHRA Rates To Rise 9% or More In 2025
ICHRA plans will see rates rise by 9% or more. Who will pay the increase, plan sponsor or plan member?Posted onAugust 8, 2024CategoriesUncategorized Edit
ICHRA: For Employers Who Are Not Going To Take It Anymore
ICHRA: For companies tired of never ending rate increases and all the time and effort required to provide health insurance for valued employees.
Texas School District Adopts ICHRA
Teachers React To The News…………….. Tired of being in the health insurance business a Texas school district has ditched their traditional group medical insurance plan in favor of something better.
Former Self-Funded Employer Touts The ICHRA
We received the following unsolicited email this morning from a client we have worked with for more than 20 years who moved his plan to ICHRA’s last year. He’s happy he did.
Why ICHRAs Make Sense – The 60/40 Rule
In any given population a minority drives costs for the majority. All are not equally sick.
Let’s compare what your employer is paying for your group health insurance plan vs a Blue Cross Blue Shield individual plan.
Just like our morning coffee, we all have a different appetite for health care.
ICHRA Vendor Attracts National Following
“By switching to an ICHRA, my client went from facing a 20% increase on premiums to realizing an 8% decrease, but we never would’ve done it without SureCo’s technology or support. The platform makes it so easy for employees to navigate and find their own plans, and it didn’t create an additional administration burden for … Continue reading ICHRA Vendor Attracts National Following
TASB Benefits Cooperative Partners With ICHRA Vendor
In a competitive market where ICHRA is gaining market share TASB has been wise to partner with an ICHRA vendor as a preemptive move based on “If you can’t beat them join them.”
The future is ICHRA, and it’s starting now…………
Busting Myths About ICHRAs Once And For All
By OneBridge Benefits More employers are considering the ICHRA (pronounced “ick-ruh”) as an alternative to their traditional group health plan offering. However, making the final decision to switch from the traditional model to a more modern solution can be difficult. Misinformation can lead to unnecessary and potentially costly second-guessing.
“The ICHRA model could serve as the backbone of an unofficial universal health care system, characterized by flexibility, choice and inclusivity.”
ICHRA Blitzkreig Takes National Brokerage By Surprise
Armored columns from deep South, Central and North Texas disguised as ageing insurance brokers have executed a flawless lightning strike in the dead of night, attacking status quo defense forces protecting lucrative Texas public school health insurance business, crushing antiquated and failed strategic defenses in place over the past 40 years.
ICHRA Benefits vs Traditional Group Plans & Why Brokers Sell Against It
Most employers have never heard of an ICHRA, Find out why brokers sell against it………….
A New Horizon in Health Care: How ICHRAs Could Transform American Health Insurance
“Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements present a compelling blueprint for a more inclusive, flexible, and sustainable health coverage model. By embracing this innovative approach, we can move closer to the ideal of universal health care coverage, tailored to the needs and preferences of every American.“
Attention Employers! Want to get out of the health insurance business? Want to give your employees more choices? Want to freeze your health insurance contribution no matter how much or how little you contribute?
TRS ActiveCare Alternative – ICHRA
The majority of Texas school districts are members of the TRS ActiveCare’s (TRSAC) defined contribution government health plan representing more than 400,000 member lives.
The newer generation of people you’re trying to recruit and retain want more choices and more say in selecting the benefits that fit them best.
StretchDollar’s Free ICHRA Platform
ICHRA Insurance brokerage works on commission only and does not charge fees to access their platform unlike other ICHRA vendors who charge as much as $30-$40 PEPM administration fees + commissions.
ICHRAs Designed to Minimize Offloading Bad Experience
By William G. (Bill) Stuart Can companies shed bad claims risk by moving to an ICHRA to fund their employees’ medical coverage? Yes. But the law minimizes the opportunity.
CMS Publishes ICHRA Premium Look-up Table
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) publishes the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) Employer Lowest Cost Silver Plan (LCSP) Premium Look-up Table to help stakeholders access individual market Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) LCSP premium data by geographic location.
Large Employers Turning To ICHRAs
An Affordable Care Act mechanism intended to help small companies support ACA health insurance for workers is now being used by large companies to satisfy their ACA obligation to provide insurance to employees, under a Trump-induced loophole. They’re saving money, and selling it as enhancing choice.
ICHRAs VS “One Size Fits All” GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE
ICHRA Administrator Releases 3rd Annual Report
SOURCE: New Report From PeopleKeep Highlights Employers’ Robust Use of ICHRAs to Cover Higher-Tier Health Insurance Plans (benefitslink.com) SALT LAKE CITY — PeopleKeep, the leader in personalized benefits for small and midsize organizations, released its third annual report on the individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA).
5 Reasons ICHRAs Could Be An Alternative To Self-funding
SOURCE: 5 reasons ICHRAs could be a an alternative to self-funding | BenefitsPRO Transitioning a company to a self-funded model isn’t always a silver bullet for employers in the long run. For many organizations, an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA) is the better solution.
Save 43% On Health Benefits Using An ICHRA?
Your groups could be saving 43% on health benefits by utilizing an ICHRA.
An ICHRA is by definition a group health plan providing a superior method of health care finance for plan sponsors………. for a lot of reasons.
ICHRA’s – An Employer’s Dream Come True?
Employers are living a nightmare. The American middle class is too……………
ICHRA’s Are Looking Better Every Day Thanks To The MHPAEA
With more punishing government mandates why in hell would an employer continue to put his business at risk by continuing a traditional group health insurance plan when he could simply offer a defined contribution plan allowing employees to pick and choose individual coverage on the open market?
How the ICHRA is Changing the Face of Health Benefits
More than 800,000 employers and 11 million employees are projected to participate in an ICHRA over the next few years………………….
Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Account (ICHRA)
Good news for frustrated Plan Sponsors. They don’t have to screw with group health insurance anymore………………….
Texas Senate Bill 120 – A Gift to ICHRA’s?
If passed, this could make ICHRA’s even more attractive to employers who are tired and fed up with all the hassles of providing group health insurance for their employees along with the ever present threat of punishing government sanctions.
Individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs), a new employer-sponsored health care benefit program for active employees that became available this year, are drawing the attention of U.S. employers, particularly wholesale and retail employers and those in education and the public sector.
Your broker advisor will probably never recommend ICHRA’s because to do so will destroy their business model. That’s probably why you’ve never heard about ICHRA’s until now……..
Plan Sponsors Can’t Win For Losing
You try to do the best you can do to attract and retain employees. You’ve risked your own money to build your business. Your self-funded. But then, as government interference in your health plan grew, your risk took on a whole new dimension.
Eyeing Cost and Flexibility, More Employers Opt for Alternatives to Traditional Health Plans
“One option gaining traction is the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA), which saw adoption surge by 29% among small employers and 84% among large employers from 2023 to 2024[.]”
Battle Lines Forming – Group vs Individual Health Insurance
The explosive growth of ICHRA, an attractive and affordable alternative, an escape from the punishing grip of increasingly onerous government mandates and sanctions, has caused fear among status quo vested interests. The Partnership For Employer-Sponsored Coverage is Ceausecu on the balcony extolling status quo virtues while having no inkling nor understanding of
Enrollment In Largest Risk Pool In Texas Up By 13.8%
TML, TAC and TRSAC combined membership is but a fraction compared to the largest government supported risk pool in Texas. More employers are ditching traditional group health insurance plans in favor of ICHRA fascillitated risk pool access. At 3.9 million members this is one of the largest health insurance risk pools on the planet.
