ICHRA Explained: Perfect For High Health Costs!

23 May 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:45

In this segment, Chrissy Myers explains the circumstances under which an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) is most advantageous for employers facing rapidly rising group‑plan costs, especially when employees have high‑cost medical conditions or expensive medications. She illustrates how an employer can set a fixed monthly reimbursement (e.g., $700), allow employees to select individual health plans that meet or exceed that amount, and have employees cover any cost difference. If an employee chooses a cheaper plan, the employer retains the unused portion of the reimbursement. This model provides cost predictability for the employer while giving employees flexibility to choose coverage that fits their needs.

Chapters

When does an ICHRA make the most sense for someone in an organization? If you've seen several years in a row of high increases, you know it's not gonna get any better because you know you've got some pretty significant medical conditions that several people are on high-cost meds. Those increases are just gonna continue to go up uncontrollably. Yeah. Whereas on the ICHRA model, if you wanna just give them $700 a month, you can give them $700 a month next year too. And then they can pick the plan that suits their needs that will cover that $700 or cover, okay, or they can— and then they can pay the difference as well. So if they pick a plan that's $800, they would pay the $1,000, or if they pick one that's $600, you get to keep the, the difference. You don't have to because it's just reimbursed.