Some Clients Could Get ICHRA Cash for Coverage

Some small and midsize employers who have noticed “individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements” love the ICHRA concept.

Workers can use the employer-provided cash in ICHRAs to buy their own individual health insurance.

In New Jersey, about 41% of benefits buyers surveyed said they had heard of ICHRAs. About 11% of the buyers who knew about ICHRAs said they were likely to adopt the arrangements, and 12% said they already had ICHRA-based plans in place.

Katherine Hempstead, a health policy expert who is skeptical about the future of ICHRAs, presented the survey results Tuesday in Tampa, Florida, at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ fall national meeting, during a Regulatory Framework Task Force session.

What It Means

Some clients may soon be able to use the employer cash in an ICHRA to buy their own individual health coverage. They may want advice about how to do that.

The Survey

The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Rutgers Center for State Health Policy conducted the survey Hempstead cited to see how the market for ICHRAs and another relatively new cash-for-coverage arrangement, the qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement, is performing.

The sample included benefits buyers at 184 small and midsize employers in New Jersey.