BASE^® Blog

It has been a full year since the Excepted Benefit HRA has been available for businesses.  Unlike the name suggests, the EBHRA offers much more than just the reimbursement of “excepted benefits” in ways of INTEGRATION, DESIGN, & ELIGIBILITY.

The BASE® Excepted Benefit HRA (EBHRA) allows employers, who offer a group health plan, to reimburse employees an additional $1,800 for premiums paid towards excepted benefits that are not included in a traditional group health plan.  Some excepted benefits are COBRA, dental, vision, short-term medical plans, and other qualifying out-of-pocket medical expenses.

The BASE® EBHRA is available to businesses of ALL sizes looking to maximize tax benefits for their business while expanding the benefit package for their employees.  This HRA is for employees that have been offered the employer-sponsored group health plan but are not required to enroll to participate in the EBHRA.

In 3 ways the EBHRA offers more:

INTEGRATION:

While other HRAs, such as the Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA) and Integrated HRA, must integrate with either an individual health insurance plan or the employer-sponsored group health plan, the EBHRA does not.  The sponsoring employer MUST OFFER the EBHRA in conjunction with the employer-sponsored group health plan, however, the employees are not required to enroll in the group health plan to participate in the EBHRA. 

Simply put, if the employer wants to provide the EBHRA to their employees, they must offer an employer-sponsored group health plan.  It is up to their employees if they want to participate or not.

DESIGN:

The EBHRA is designed for uniform availability meaning it must be offered on the same terms and conditions to all eligible employees.  The employer gets to determine what expenses to reimburse and how much will be reimbursed up-to the maximum of $1,800 (indexed for inflation) per plan year to employees. 

Simply put, the employer must provide the EBHRA to all employees, but can choose how much they will provide up-to $1,800. 

ELIGIBILITY:

Final regulations leave the assumption that the employees eligible for the EBHRA must be eligible to enroll in the employer-sponsored health plan, even if they choose not to.

Simply put, the employees must be eligible for the employer-sponsored group health plan, but do not need to enroll to take advantage of the tax savings with the EBHRA. 

With the EBHRA, we want you to experience the BASE® Difference!  With BASE®, employers will have an additional way to maximize their tax benefits for the business and their employees, by providing a tax-free means of paying for COBRA, Short-Term Limited Duration Insurance, and Excepted Benefit Insurance and/or IRC Section 213(d) medical expenses.  Employees will have up-to an additional $1,800, tax-free, to apply towards these benefits.

Simply put, the EBHRA can offer benefits to both the employer and employee, allowing both to maximize their tax savings.  For more information, call BASE® at 888.386.9680 or visit www.BASEonline.com.

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We can’t help but CHEER when an employer saves valuable tax dollars, provides an expanded benefits package, and helps their employees pay for their health care expenses with BASE® HRAs!

HIP, HIP, Hooray for HRAs!

Health Reimbursement Arrangements are an IRS-approved tax savings plan that allows employers to reimburse employees for certain health care costs, are non-taxable to the employee, and are 100% deductible to the employer as a business deduction.

The BASE® Section 105 HRA allows small business owners, classified as Sole Proprietor, Partnership, or C or S Corp, to deduct up-to 100% of health care costs, including individual insurance premiums and qualified out-of-pocket (OOP) health care expenses.  This plan is applicable to small business owners that can legitimately hire their spouse.

HOORAY…with the Section 105 HRA, employers can save up to $5,900 annually and reduce the high costs of health insurance premiums and OOP health care expenses.

The BASE® Integrated HRA allows employers, who sponsors a high-deductible group health plan, to lower the cost of premiums while keeping the employees’ coverage the same, and supplement deductible costs.  

HOORAY…with the Integrated HRA, employers can reduce group health plan premiums by 10-50% and the overall cost of the insured plan.

The BASE® Qualified Small Employer HRA (QSEHRA) allows employers, with less than 50 full-time employees who maintain minimum essential coverage (MEC), to reimburse qualified health insurance premiums or qualified health care expenses within the annual limit set by the IRS.

HOORAY…with the QSEHRA, employers can control health care costs with set allowance caps and save money by not providing a traditional group health plan.

The BASE® Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA) allows employers to reimburse employees for qualified insurance premiums and/or non-insured health care expenses.  Employers can offer all employees, or to a specific class, with no contribution caps.

HOORAY…with the ICHRA, employers can streamline benefit options and cut costs without reducing the value of the benefits plan and save money by not providing a traditional group health plan to any or all employees.

The BASE® Excepted Benefit HRA (EBHRA) allows employers, who offer a group health plan, to reimburse employees an additional $1,800 for premiums paid towards excepted benefits.

HOORAY…with the EBHRA, employers have another way to maximize savings and tax benefits.

So, “HIP, HIP, HRA” and cheer for what HRAs can do for businesses of all sizes and structures!  For more information, call BASE® at 888.386.9680 or visit www.BASEonline.com.

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