BASE^® Blog

In the last 10 years, the average cost of health insurance premiums has risen faster than inflation in the last 5 years – 22% vs. 11%. For businesses that offer a group health plan, adding in a benefit to help offset premiums and employee out-of-pocket costs, is essential.  One way to supplement a business’ group health plan is through the Integrated HRA.

The BASE® Integrated HRA is an IRS-approved tax savings plan for businesses who sponsor group health insurance and are looking to lower the cost of health insurance premiums, helping to supplement their employees’ deductible costs.   The Integrated HRA works with any group health plan, making the HRA portable, to help the business save thousands each year in valuable tax savings and suppress the annual increases most associated with traditional forms of health care.

Implementing the Integrated HRA with BASE®, the employer will be able to couple it with any group health plan that fits best for their business. No matter what group health plan offered, or the group health plan offered in the future, it will work seamlessly with the Integrated HRA.

Here are a few benefits to utilizing the BASE® Integrated HRA:

Plan Design.

The employer gets to choose to raise the deductible, which reduces the overall cost of the plan, self-insure a portion of that deductible to keep the employee’s responsibility of the deductible maintainable, and decide the allotted allowance amount each employee will receive. 

Tax Benefit.

All reimbursements to employees are 100% deductible as a business expense, meaning free of payroll taxes for employers and free of income taxes for employees. 

Protection of Funds.

The employer does not need to prefund an account.  The reimbursements to their employees are made when a qualifying expense has been adjudicated by BASE®. 

Savings.

The Integrated HRA has been proven to reduce health insurance premium increases by 10-50%. 

Recruit and Retain.

A group health plan is one of the most popular ways for employers to offer health benefits to offer (and use to recruit new) employees AND one of the most popular ways to recruit and retain talented employees.  By supplementing the (already attractive) group health plan with the HRA, an employer’s health benefits are more attractive than what other companies are offering. 

Offering the BASE® Integrated HRA is one of the most simple and cost-effective ways to help lower the cost of health insurance premiums while keeping employee coverage the same.  

For more information on the BASE® Integrated HRA, contact BASE® at 888.386.9680 or visit www.BASEonline.com.

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