Attracting and retaining staff has never been more competitive. We recently received this question from one of our clients who had a staff person inquire about health insurance:
Q: I finally have a staff member who needs health insurance. What is my best option? I have insurance through my spouse.
A: Practice owners can provide their staff with a monthly allowance called an ICHRA (Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Account) that the employee uses towards the cost of their own insurance purchased on the Mass Health Connector. The full amount of the ICHRA payment is tax-deductible to your practice and is a tax-free benefit to your staff.
To set up the ICHRA, the practice owner needs to create a document summarizing who is eligible and how much of a monthly benefit the practice will pay, and then distribute that document to all their current and future staff who meet a certain threshold for hours worked. Search ICHRA online for more info and to find a template to use.