BASE^® Blog

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, despite over 90% of the U.S. population having some form of health insurance, an estimated 41% of adults carry health care debt. On top of that, the average cost your clients pay for their employees' health care jumped 6.5% in 2023, amounting to more than $13,800 per employee.

BASE^® has shown clients, like yours, just how much they could be saving with the Integrated HRA. On average, BASE^® has saved businesses $30,000-70,000+ in premium costs. But, how?

With the Integrated HRA.

The BASE^® Integrated Health Reimbursement Arrangement is a type of HRA that allows your clients with a group health plan in place to help reduce the overall cost of the insurance coverage. Also known as a Medical Expense Reimbursement Plan (MERP), it is an employer-reimbursement program that offers savings for your clients and more options for employees.

Savings and options start with your client funding part of the employee's deductible after the employee's portion has been met through the HRA. Your client selects and maintains a group health plan with lower premiums (with a higher deductible) for its employees and partially insures coverage of a portion of the employee's costs.

The Integrated HRA has been proven to reduce employer's health insurance premium increases by 10-50%. And BASE^® can provide employers with a quick snapshot of how much they could be saving before making an investment in the Integrated HRA. Simply contact BASE^®, and with some basic data, you can obtain an Integrated HRA Analysis outlining the savings to be gained by enrolling in an Integrated HRA.

The Integrated HRA Analysis will show employers their current health insurance plan, the insured deductible, monthly premium, and annual premiums. BASE^® will provide 2 scenarios, at different percentage exposures, and show the total annual savings each year.

In a one-page document, in black and white, BASE^® will provide a snapshot of the potential savings by coupling the business' group health plan and the BASE^® Integrated HRA. Not only will the employer save money, but the plan will work with any group health plan, the HRA funds are only paid to the employees once a qualifying expense has been adjudicated, with no prefunding required, and all reimbursements are 100% deductible as a business expense. The employees will be reimbursed for their eligible expenses and all reimbursements are considered non-taxable income.

To see how much could be saved with the Integrated HRA, call 1.888.386.9680 for a free BASE^® Integrated HRA Analysis - a valuable tool when looking for cost saving options when it comes to health care.

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Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) are tax-free accounts that help employees pay for eligible health care expenses.  With an HRA, the employer funds the account, and employers are finding it’s a great benefit option for retirees to use the funds to get reimbursed for qualified health care costs.

BASE® has been administering Health Reimbursement Arrangements for over 25 years and with each passing year, has seen more employers looking to provide an HRA to their retiree employees as part of their health care benefit strategy. 

A Retiree-Only HRA can be used to reimburse qualified health care expenses, including premiums for individual coverage and Medicare, incurred after retirement.  Employers may further restrict the types of qualified health care expenses that are eligible for reimbursement.  

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 introduced significant changes to Medicare Part D, which improved coverage for retirees but presented financial challenges for employers sponsoring group Medicare Part D plans.  To mitigate potential cost increases, employers might consider directing retirees to individual Medicare Part D plans through the marketplace exchanges and leverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) for funding. 

With this approach, retirees gain all the benefits of Medicare Part D while employers can enjoy a reduction in their administrative effort and potentially in their coverage costs.  Many employers have done exactly this over the years as individual market insurance coverage has become more attractive compared to group plan coverage. 

If you are an employer looking for retiree benefit options or work with employers looking for options and want to learn more about how a Retiree-Only HRA might benefit them, contact BASE® at 1.888.386.9680 for more information. 

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