Health savings accounts (HSAs) were introduced in 2003 as a tax-advantaged way to save money toward future health expenses. Although they’re opened, owned, and maintained by individuals, they’re also a valuable component of a comprehensive health benefits package.

Many businesses aren’t sure where to start when offering an HSA benefit, though.

In this post, we’ll discuss how an HSA works, the benefits of contributing to employees’ HSAs, how to do so, and which rules you need to follow if you offer an HSA with a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA).

Let’s get started.

We’ve got great news here at PeopleKeep—last week brought a major win for small business health benefits.

After several months of work, the federal government finalized a rule that creates two new health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and increases HRA flexibility for all businesses.

The highly anticipated final rule, which was released Thursday, June 13, adds two new HRA options for the 2020 calendar year. Beginning January 1, 2020, businesses can offer an individual coverage HRA (ICHRA) and an excepted benefit HRA to their employees.

The new HRAs are available to businesses of all sizes, but we believe the ICHRA will especially benefit small businesses looking for new alternatives to group health insurance.

In this post, we’ll briefly go over the background on the new rule and what it does. Then, we’ll cover how the final rule differs from the proposed rule released last year, what the final rule means for small businesses, and how you can learn more about the ICHRA.

Let’s dive in.

With the new individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA) scheduled to become available in early 2020, you might be wondering if the ICHRA satisfies the employer mandate.

Let’s take a look.

The health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) is having quite a moment.

After being seriously reduced by IRS guidance following the Affordable Care Act, they’ve reentered the scene as a serious option—particularly for small businesses.

With the creation of a new HRA in 2016 and two new HRAs on the horizon, it’s a good time to look forward to what’s in store next year.

In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about HRAs in 2020. That includes whether your business should consider one, which HRA options will be available, how any HRA rules might change, and what’s happening with federal proposals to create two brand-new HRAs in 2020.

Let’s dive in.

Beginning in 2020, small businesses are expected to have a new health benefits option: the individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA).

Unlike other HRAs, the ICHRA can be used by businesses of all sizes and there are no allowance caps. The business can set allowances to match their budget, and they have the freedom to choose different allowance amounts for nine defined employee classes.

Participating in a group health insurance plan won’t disqualify businesses from participating in the ICHRA, so long as the same employee class is not offered a choice between the ICHRA and group coverage. In order to participate, employees must be enrolled in an individual health insurance policy. They can be the primary policyholder or they can be covered under a family member’s individual policy.

The ICHRA can be used to reimburse individual health insurance premiums, but also a wide variety of other expenses. In this post, we’ll examine eligible expenses under the ICHRA.

Let’s get started.