Health insurance claims and plans have always been a pretty complicated topic, especially for people who become employers for the first time in their lives and then realize that they need to think about providing their staff with proper healthcare coverage. If this sounds like you, i.e. if you have recently become and employer, then you will need to think about these plans as well.
Of course, the same goes for all of those who want to change their current coverage, but I am guessing that you already knew that. If you’re thinking about those changes, go here to get some info on whether and how to do it.
Anyway, today I am here to talk about one particular insurance plan that you definitely need to get familiar with if you’re an employer. In case you couldn’t have guessed it, the plan that I am referring to is called an Individual Coverage HRA, and it is a sort of a modern and popular employer-funded health insurance option. Of course, the fact that it is new, modern and popular doesn’t mean you should immediately jump on board.
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As every single wise business owner would do, you should first get a much better idea about what this Individual Coverage HRA, or ICHRA in short, actually entails, how it all works and what it can offer you and your employees. This way, you will get to decide if this is the right option for you or not and, the best part is, you will make that decision based on actual facts rather than certain assumptions that you might be making right now. So, it’s time to start learning.
What Is The ICHRA?
Like I have explained above, this is a rather new health benefits option that employers can now provide to their staff. It has become available in January, 2020 and it has definitely been grabbing a lot of attention by now. What does it, however, all stand for? And, more importantly, what does it entail?
Before we get to that, here are some general advantages of offering health benefits to your employees: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeslacouncil/2018/07/03/the-four-advantages-of-offering-health-and-wellness-benefits-to-employees/?sh=14796844646a
Now, let us take a closer look at this abbreviation and what it stands for. In simple words, ICHRA stands for Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement, and I am quite sure that the name speaks for itself as for what it entails. Simply put, it is a non-traditional form of insurance that allows your staff to get compensated for the medical services that they use.
How Does It Work?
Let me explain in some more details how all of this works. If you are used to the traditional insurance option, then you know that employers are usually required to buy insurance for their staff. In this case, however, things work a bit differently. In short, your employees use and pay for the medical services that they need and then you reimburse those expenses.
As you can see, the process is quite simple and there is nothing confusing or complicated about it. It’s important mentioning that this can be a great addition to traditional insurance and that employees definitely love it. Plus, a lot of businesses use it as the sole health benefits plan for their staff, because it has showed to be quite beneficial for everyone.
What Are The Benefits?
Since I have mentioned that this can be a beneficial option, you have probably started wondering what those benefits actually are. So, let me tell you about a few of those and help you understand everything better. If you want to get a much deeper understanding of the topic, though, the ICHRA Guide from Take Command Health could be of great help, because it will answer all the questions that you have.
Anyway, the ICHRA plans are beneficial because they provide flexibility and simplicity when it comes to designing individual plans. In addition to that, there’s the fact that the plan choices for your employees are more personalized, which is undoubtedly a huge benefit for the people working in your company. All in all, the ICHRA plans have become popular for a reason and I suggest you consider becoming a part of that world, because it will work perfectly both for you and for your staff.