Coming off the heels of last week’s BenefitsPRO Broker Expo, it was no surprise that ICHRA emerged as a hot topic amongst brokers and vendors alike. It was exciting to hear from the number of brokers already embracing these group-like plans as a way to solve many of the challenges facing today’s health plan market. Here are three ICHRA trends that surfaced as over one thousand delegates touched down near the Rockies.
ICHRA’s success hinges significantly on technology, as the value of ICHRA lies in making it easy for companies to give their employees money to shop for the right plans. As a result, technology is also the biggest differentiator for brokers as they seek out viable ICHRA partners. While technology is being applied to all aspects of ICHRA - from quoting and plan design to plan selection and payment - it’s important for brokers to really think through where their time is best spent and out how to leverage technology to streamline the rest.
In recognition of the significant time investment brokers put into quoting ICHRA plans, Zorro saw the Expo as a great time to begin previewing the latest version of our proprietary quoting tool, Tornado. While brokers can continue to instantaneously quote plans off a simple census upload, they will now also be able to compare multiple quotes with a simple toggle, dive deeper into any non-compliance challenges, and directly share quotes with clients through the click of a button. Gone are the dozens of hours needlessly spent on spreadsheets, scenario testing, and fat-fingered data.
According to the 2022 and 2023 McKinsey Consumer Health Insights Surveys, 44 percent of healthcare buyers research providers before scheduling an appointment and 45 percent report looking into in-network costs and providers before selecting a plan. Technology can make this even easier. The data is there, and it’s just about how people use it. Leveraging a platform with a robust recommendation engine - one that goes beyond the simple cost comparisons to truly evaluate employee needs and total projected costs of care - is paramount to ensuring a successful plan.
If an exhibit hall packed with ICHRA vendors and the numerous ICHRA sessions didn’t convince you, perhaps the statistics will. Last year, ICHRA adoption grew by 171%. That opens up a world of opportunity for benefits advisors. Aside from employer predictability and savings, as well as employee personalization and control, ICHRA gives benefits advisors an opportunity to disrupt the trajectory of continuous premium hikes while delivering plans their clients can be proud of. This is why over 50% of brokers in our onsite session, “Bend the Trend: Delivering Health Plan Cost Predictability and Control with ICHRA”, say they’re already offering ICHRA plans. More notably, fellow ICHRA providers showcased stories of success with claimed company savings averaging above 20 percent.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this year’s Expo is that ICHRA will continue to infiltrate conversations on health plan innovation while delivering meaningful results for those who embrace it. If you’d like to chat about ICHRA prior to next year’s Expo (and we hope you do!), we’d love to hear what trends you’re seeing and how we can help.
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