HRA Health Reinbursement Arrangements

We want to help you make the transition to a high deductible health coverage plan and an HRA (Health Reimbursement Account) as easy as possible for you and your employees.

HRA Advantages to Employers and Employees 

Control 
HRAs allow you as an employer to retain control of funds and decide what type of expenses will be reimbursed, and also whether the HRA funds will carry over from year to year. By adding a higher-deductible insurance plan with your HRA plan you can cut the cost of providing healthcare benefits to your employees.

Financial Flexibility
HRAs don't require prefunding; you may simply reimburse the plan members for eligible expenses as they occur. As a result, your organization's assets are freed up for other uses.

Savings
Reimbursements through an HRA are tax deductible for you as the employer and tax exempt for your employees. That means everyone experiences a tax advantage when you select an HRA. Employers and employees also enjoy the lower premiums that go with high-deductible health plans.

Choice
There are no restrictions on the type of health plan that can be paired with an HRA, so you are free to choose the perfect plan for your employees. Also, employees get to decide where and when to spend the HRA funds. They are free to choose healthcare providers and shop for better prices.

• Health Reimbursement Arrangements are employer-funded accounts that employees can draw upon to pay qualified medical expenses, are usually offered as part of consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs), a fast-growing marketplace solution to rising health care and health insurance costs while saving employers a considerable amount of money and often providing better coverage.

• HRA-Health Reimbursement Account based health plans provide most employers with an important new benefits option, one that helps raise consumer awareness of the real costs of health care while empowering the consumers with greater degree of decision-making control over their health care spending. HRA health plans usually include a high deductible, and research shows that total health spending is reduced when consumers bear more responsibility for their health care expenses.

• Members of an HRA Health Reimbursement Account plan who do not use all of their fund or account in one year can roll over unused funds for use at a later time for medical expenses, COBRA benefits, long-term care or Medicare supplement insurance premiums.

• HRA-Health Reimbursement Account based plans facilitate access to quality health care & health insurance because preventive care, such as routine physicals and child immunizations, typically is covered 100 percent and is not charged against the employee's fund.