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Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)

Benefits are better with a health reimbursement arrangement

Reimburse your employees tax-free with a health reimbursement arrangement from the industry’s only HRA administration platform with hands-on enrollment support.

  • Manage benefits for an hour or less per month
  • No more surprises, renewals, or participation rate concerns
  • A smart, hands-off alternative to group health insurance
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HRA Plan highlights

Take Command makes HRA administration simple and easy.

Flexible Designs

No more one-size fits all plans! Health reimbursement arrangement plans can be customized and designed to achieve you or your clients’ goals. 

Simple Administration

Take Command will automatically generate the documents your employees need and can help them search for and enroll in a plan online.

No Contribution Limits

There are no annual contribution caps. This allows employers to define unrestricted benefit budgets.

Learn More

Want to dive into the details of health reimbursement arrangements? 

Our Health Reimbursement Arrangement Guide will walk you through how HRAs work, HRA benefits, and HRA setup. 

HRA Health Insurance

Join the 5,000+ businesses saving on health benefits with Take Command

Union Orthotics and Prosthetics

"Facing a 40% renewal, our broker introduced us to the idea. Take Command provides the tools there for everybody to enroll in very easy formats on the platform."

Read Case Study

Taro Health

"To attract and maintain talent, we needed benefits. Managing our HRA has been simple and hands-off. I spend two hours a month managing and administering it."

Read Case Study

StreamCare

"Take Command has made it simple to set up and administer the small business HRA for StreamCare and we highly recommend it to other small businesses."

Read Testimonial

Health Reimbursement Arrangement: Read all about it

Support your employees with tax-friendly HRAs 

Give your employees a customized benefits plan to support their health (and happiness). You can reimburse your employees tax-free with your HRA and enjoy full-service administrative support. 

HRAs are a popular alternative to traditional group health insurance. Your HRA gives you the freedom and flexibility you want to escape from the confines of group plans. With an HRA, you can expect:

  • No more pricey renewals
  • No more paying for things your employees don’t want or use
  • No more group participation requirements
  • No more taking on risk

Instead, you get the benefits of reimbursing your employees for health insurance, such as:

  • Tax efficiency
  • Flexible design
  • Budget control
  • Optimized benefits
  • You can get out of the health insurance risk management game

HRA Plan Highlights

Take Command makes HRA administration simple and easy.

Flexible Designs

Customize a plan that fits the needs of you and your employees. Full-time, part-time, remote, hybrid — your HRA has you covered. 

Simple HRA Administration

Take Command helps you with the design and management of your HRA. This includes process, compliance, reporting, employee communication and employer support. 

No Contribution Limits

Employers can define unrestricted benefit budgets with no annual contribution caps. HRAs reimbursements aren’t subject to payroll or income taxes. 

Want to dive into the details of HRAs?

Check out our HRA guide to learn more about how HRAs work, HRA benefits, and HRA administration. 

HRA Health Benefits 

A health reimbursement arrangement is a tax-advantaged benefits solution that allows employers to reimburse their employees for qualified health expenses, including individual insurance premiums. An HRA is eliminates the one size fits all group plan and gives employees the power to chose a health insurance plan that works best for them. Traditional health insurance plans that focus on a group model can be rigid, complicated and very expensive. With an HRA, you and your employees can find freedom in choice, and still get the benefits coverage you want. 

What is an HRA Plan?

An HRA is an employer-funded group health plan in which employees are reimbursed (with tax-free dollars) for qualified medical expenses. There are two main types of HRAs: Individual Coverage HRAs (ICHRA) and Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA). QSEHRA is designed for small employers looking for employee health benefits, and ICHRA works for employers of all sizes. Some rules differ between the two HRA plans, and the makeup of your employees can determine the plan that suits your needs best. Check out our comparison article to learn more about the specifics of each and how they stack up. 

How do HRAs work?

HRA health insurance is actually very straightforward. Employees select their preferred health insurance plan, pay for health care expenses upfront then the employer reimburses them. Employees and employer alike value the simplicity of this arrangement. Employees gain control of where they spend their money and chose the providers that they want. And employers can still offer health care benefits without being tied to a group plan and in a way that works for the business budget. 

HRA plan administration in four simple steps. 

  1. The employer designs their HRA plan. Pro tip – it’s even easier when you work with an experienced partner like Take Command.
  2. Employees purchase their preferred health insurance plan. Take Command even helps them do it and makes it super easy with tons of employee resources, including our window shopping tool. 
  3. After employees purchase their plans of choice, they can then submit eligible reimbursement claims to the employer.
  4. Finally, the employer reimburses employees for all valid reimbursement claims.

This is a general set of steps that outlines the basic process of an HRA plan. For a more detailed explanation, check out our HRA benefits guide. The specifics of your plan set up will depend on which HRA you choose – QSEHRA or ICHRA. But one thing remains the same, the experts at Take Command are ready to help you at every step. 

Will a health reimbursement arrangement help you save on benefits? 

In about half the country, individual insurance rates are cheaper than their group plan equivalents, meaning health benefits dollars will stretch further with an HRA like QSEHRA or ICHRA. Use our heat map to see if your location is prime for saving.

HRA Pros and Cons

There are always upsides and downsides to consider when deciding which healthcare plan to choose. It really depends on the specifics of your situation and the plan you choose. Let’s review some of the general pros and cons of HRA plans. 

HRA Pros:

  • More control over costs: Employers can take charge of their own benefits budgets each year instead of being subject to yearly group increases.
  • Greater plan flexibility: Employers can create a customized plan that works for the team instead of being forced to choose between whichever plans insurance companies offer. 
  • Greater network flexibility and personalization: Employees can select the individual plans and doctors that work best for them and can use HRAs for medical and dental expenses, prescriptions, annual exams, birth control medications, and more.Some HRA designs (including all of Take Command’s products) allow employees to use their HRA for insurance premiums
  • Risk de-management: Employers no longer need to worry about factoring managing employees’ health risks into the business strategy.
  • Plan portability: Employees can keep their individual health insurance plan and don’t have to lose health coverage tied to a specific job. 
  • Unused funds can roll over at the employer's discretion.
  • Tax-advantaged funds for medical expenses 
  • Some types of HRAs prompt a Special Enrollment Period, meaning it’s easier for employees to sign up for health insurance within 60 days of that change.

HRA Cons:

  • Funds stay with the employer if an employee leaves the company. Note: this is actually a pro for employers. 
  • Employees cannot use it for cosmetic costs such as teeth whitening or other procedures or products deemed unnecessary. Again, this would be considered a pro by most employers.
  • There may be plan-based employer contribution limits depending on what type of HRA is offered
  • Provider options may be limited based on the insurance market per geographical region.
  • In some cases, employees on spouse’s plans cannot get reimbursed for their spouse’s premiums. 
  • For some types of HRAs, the HRA offer can replace premium tax credits that some individuals receive.
  • Some HRAs don’t integrate with medical sharing plans or TRICARE, among others.

For a more comprehensive, detailed list of pros and cons, check out our HRA account pros and cons blog.

ICHRA SETUP

Ready to Get Started?

Begin designing your ICHRA plan today and be set up in minutes. You could start reimbursing your employees tax-free sooner than you think. 

Ready to get started?

Begin designing your HRA plan today and be set up in minutes. You could start reimbursing your employees tax-free sooner than you think.

HRA SETUP

Ready to get started?

Begin designing your HRA plan today and get set up in minutes. You could start reimbursing your employees, tax-free, sooner than you think. 

HRA RULES

Before setting up your HRA, make sure you understand these important rules. HRA rules for employers and employees include some standard HRA rules associated with every HRA account. For example, the business owns the HRA, not the employee. Only the company can put money into the HRA, HRA funds do not earn interest, and the business determines the amount contributed to the HRA. 

Employees can use HRA money to pay for personal and family medical expenses. The rules for reimbursement from an HRA are found in IRS Publication 502, and any unused money stays with the business. Rollover of funds for employees with an HRA is not guaranteed. Rollover depends on the type of HRA plan and the business's decision about allowing it or not. 

Some rules differ between HRA plans. For example, QSEHRA is well-suited for small employers, whereas ICHRA is suitable for employers of all sizes. Therefore, QSEHRA has some differences from ICHRA. 

→ Deep dive into HRA Account Rules 

HRA Administration

What’s the best way to run your HRA without adding extra stress to your plate? Work with a skilled HRA administrator, like Take Command. A good HRA administrator will do all the heavy lifting for you and help you navigate the process from start to finish.

We are often asked whether an employer can administer their own HRA. Technically, yes, but it’s not advised. It’s time consuming for business owners to keep up with all of the paperwork necessary and maintain health information in a secure way. There’s also the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which is another layer of protection for employees' private health information. Working with an HRA administrator keeps employees’ health information private and keeps you in compliance. 

Benefits of an HRA Administrator

There are many more benefits to working with an HRA administrator. Our HRA administration platform will help you with:

  • Legal documents
  • Onboarding employees
  • Tax documents and year-end reporting
  • HIPAA and privacy compliance

A customized admin portal to review and approve HRA documents, view monthly reimbursement reports, add/remove employees, manage subscriptions, update payment information, and see overview information about HRAs.

We’ll also help employees get the most out of their HRA by:

  • Providing helpful educational material to communicate to your employees the benefits of their new HRA and how to get the most out of it
  • Supporting employees while they shop for an individual health insurance plan to use with their HRA
  • Answering questions along the way
  • Providing an easy platform to request reimbursements (like simply snapping a picture and uploading on phone)

SIMPLE HRA ADMINISTRATION PRICING

HRA Administration pricing that’s simple.

No hidden fees. No contracts. No matter what.

Get Started
Starting at
$20/mo
Per Employee
  • Personalized onboarding & support
  • Hands-on shopping guidance for employees
  • Customizable HRA design