Building your flat-rate ICHRA policy (sign-up guide)

This guide walks through the Confirm & Finalize Your Policy step of sign-up: how a flat-rate ICHRA policy works, the rules to know, what it will cost you each month, and tips for building a policy that fits your team and your budget.

How a flat-rate policy works

With a flat rate, you choose which groups of employees get the benefit and set a fixed monthly amount (their allowance) for each group. Employees use it to buy their own individual health plan, and you reimburse their premiums each month, tax-free, up to that amount.

Pick your employee groups: Full-time, Salary, Part-time and/or Hourly.
For each group, enter the number of employees and a monthly contribution per employee.
Optional, Full-time and Salary groups only: tick Additional contribution for dependents? to add an extra amount per dependent, up to a maximum number of dependents. For example, $500 base + $200 per dependent (up to 2) gives an employee with two dependents $900 a month.
Confirm your start date and waiting period (see below), then save.

The rules to know

Same amount within a group. Everyone in a group must be offered the same allowance; you can't give two full-time employees different amounts. To pay people differently, use different groups, for example full-time vs part-time. More on groups
Offer it to everyone in the groups you choose. You can leave a whole group out (for example, part-time), but everyone in a group you include must be offered the benefit, even if you expect them to waive.
Limits: up to $4,000 a month per employee for Full-time and Salary groups, up to $1,000 for Part-time and Hourly, and up to $1,000 per dependent.
Start date: your plan starts on the 1st of a month, within the next five months. Leave your team time to shop: if the date is only a few days away, they'll have very little time to pick a plan.
Waiting period: decide when new hires become eligible: immediately, or after 30, 60 or 90 days. Once eligible, employees have 60 days to enroll in a plan.
50 or more employees: we'll set up a quick call before you continue. Why StretchDollar is built for teams under 50

What it costs you each month

The Estimated monthly total on this page is your employees' allowances plus StretchDollar's fees:

Allowances: employees × monthly contribution, plus the dependent amount. The estimate assumes everyone enrolls and every employee has the maximum number of dependents, so it's a ceiling.
Fees: a $100 monthly platform fee, plus $25 a month for each employee who enrolls. Pricing details

Your real cost is usually lower:

You only reimburse actual premiums. If an employee's plan costs less than their allowance, you reimburse the premium, not the full allowance.
You only pay for people who enroll. Employees who waive (for example, because they're on a spouse's plan) cost nothing.
Billing happens on the 1st of each month, based on who actually enrolled.

Participation

There's no minimum participation. Any number of your employees can accept the benefit, and the rest can waive it. Is there a minimum participation rate?

Tips for building an effective policy

Start from real premiums. Look at what individual plans cost for your team (your quote is a good guide) and set an allowance that covers a solid plan for a typical employee. Too low and few people enroll; you can't over-reimburse, so a generous allowance mostly costs you only what people actually spend.
Add a dependent amount if many of your team have families. Family coverage costs more, and a per-dependent amount targets help where it's needed. Contributing more for families
Use groups to fit your budget, for example a full allowance for full-time staff and a smaller one, or none, for part-time.
You can adjust later. On a flat rate our team can change allowances during the plan year if you need to. Changing allowances mid-year

Still have a question about your policy? Ask it in the help window and we'll help you work it out.