Vericred, a data services platform delivering digital infrastructure for the distribution and fulfillment of health insurance and employee benefits, announced the launch of its HRA Development Kit, a suite of APIs enabling InsurTech and HRtech companies to build solutions that empower businesses to take advantage of new Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) rules.
As the only data platform partnered with hundreds of health insurance carriers serving both the group and individual markets, Vericred is uniquely positioned to help tech companies, and their customers, capitalize on changes to HRA regulations, which, beginning in January 2020, are expected to transition millions of employees from traditional, employer-managed group health insurance plans to individual market plans.
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Vericred’s HRA Development Kit includes the following data solutions: Group and Individual Rating APIs, which provide technology platforms with a means to generate quotes in both markets from hundreds of health insurance carriers, thus enabling brokers and employers to evaluate the cost differences between group and individual health plans, and ultimately to enable employees to shop for individual insurance plans; Group to Individual Disruption Analysis, which empowers brokers and employers to examine how shifting employees from traditional group plans to individual market plans would impact in-network access to their favored providers; and Shop by Doctor and Shop by Drug, enabling employees to shop for individual insurance plans based on their preferred doctors and prescription drug requirements. Together, these solutions power decision support tools that inform employers, directly and through their brokers, as to whether ICHRAs are the right solution for their companies.
“Equipped with Vericred’s data solutions, our customers — online insurance marketplaces, quoting systems, BenAdmin and HR platforms — can ease brokers, employers and employees through this complex and evolving ICHRA landscape,” said Michael W. Levin, Vericred’s co-founder and CEO. “Beyond offering employees health plan transportability and expanding plan choice, these new regulations offer tech platforms an exciting opportunity to scale their solutions for the individual market. Vericred is positioned to mitigate the time and expense that would otherwise be required to build and maintain such functionality.”
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HRAs are a type of employer-sponsored benefits arrangement in which businesses reimburse their employees a set, tax-free amount for eligible health insurance expenses, such as monthly premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket medical costs. In June 2019, the Trump administration finalized new HRA rules that, starting next year, will permit employers of any size to allocate a fixed amount for their employees to purchase health plans on the individual market, including the healthcare.gov website, state-based exchanges, and InsurTech platforms.
The size of the individual market, according to White House estimates, is projected to expand by 50 percent, thereby creating a mandate for InsurTech companies that are currently focused on the group market to offer individual plans as well. By supporting solutions for both plan types, InsurTechs can seamlessly migrate users from group plans to individual plans, therefore retaining customers who would otherwise be forced to shop elsewhere.
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