Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan

Please feel free to save or share this link to refer back to this offering. For in depth information or for scheduling, please visit the activity site directly as detailed in the activity description.
30 Sep

Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan

Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan

Wednesday, September 30, 2026 (12:00 AM to 11:59 PM)
1 PDCs
Provider: Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce
Course Name: Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan

Speaker: Barbie Sprinkman and Mike Demet
Program Type: Conference
Registration URL: https://www.wiveteranschamber.org/wvcc-business-conference-brookfield-2026/
Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan, Brookfield, Wisconsin
Email Details

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to: 1. Explain the fundamental structure of an ICHRA and how it differs from a traditional group health plan. 2. Evaluate how an ICHRA may help an employer control healthcare expenses, establish a predictable benefits budget, and address the needs of a diverse workforce. 3. Identify key plan-design and compliance considerations, including employee classifications, affordability, opt-out requirements, COBRA, FSAs, HSAs, Premium Only Plans, enrollment, and employee communication. 4. Describe the implementation and administration process for establishing and maintaining an ICHRA.

You're Registered!
Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan explores Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements, commonly known as ICHRAs, and how employers can use this benefit model as an alternative to or replacement for a traditional group health insurance plan. The session explains how an ICHRA allows an employer to establish a defined, tax-free contribution that employees can use to reimburse the cost of qualifying individual health insurance premiums and, depending on the plan design, other eligible medical expenses. Participants will learn the fundamental structure of an ICHRA, including how employers determine contribution amounts, reimbursement schedules, eligible employee classes, and covered expenses. The presentation examines how contribution levels may vary based on permissible employee classifications, age, and family size while remaining consistent for employees within the same class. It also explains how ICHRAs can serve workforces that include full-time, part-time, seasonal, salaried, hourly, collectively bargained, temporary, remote, and geographically dispersed employees. The session focuses on the primary business reasons employers may consider an ICHRA, including rising group health insurance costs, unpredictable annual renewals, the need for more consistent budgeting, and the challenge of selecting one group plan that meets the needs of every employee. Employers can establish their own benefits budget while employees gain greater flexibility to select individual coverage based on their preferred insurance carrier, provider network, physicians, prescription coverage, deductible structure, and Health Savings Account eligibility. Attendees will also examine how an ICHRA may support employee attraction and retention by providing employees with more personalized healthcare choices. Rather than requiring all employees to participate in a single employer-selected group plan, employees may select from qualifying individual plans available on or off the health insurance marketplace. The presentation discusses how this model may be particularly useful for organizations with employees in multiple states or geographic regions where a traditional group plan may provide limited access to local healthcare providers. In addition to plan design and workforce considerations, the session addresses the implementation process for an ICHRA. Topics include conducting a savings and cost analysis, selecting plan-design options, establishing funding and reimbursement schedules, preparing legal plan documents, providing required employee notices, communicating the benefit to employees, facilitating open enrollment, collecting enrollment information, coordinating with a third-party administrator, processing recurring reimbursements, and monitoring the program for future plan-year adjustments. The presentation also reviews important compliance and administrative considerations associated with an ICHRA. These include Affordable Care Act affordability, Minimum Essential Coverage, employee eligibility for premium tax credits, annual employee opt-out requirements, dependent opt-outs, termination procedures, COBRA continuation requirements, ERISA plan documents, PCORI fee notices, nondiscrimination testing, and coordination with other employer-sponsored benefit programs. Participants will learn how an ICHRA may interact with Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Premium Only Plans, and Premium Reimbursement Accounts. The session explains circumstances in which employees may pay their remaining portion of an individual insurance premium on a pre-tax basis and identifies restrictions that may apply to plans purchased through the federal health insurance marketplace. The course will also explain the responsibilities of employers, employees, brokers, enrollment partners, and third-party administrators throughout the ICHRA process. Administrative responsibilities may include plan-design assistance, legal document creation, required notices, employee attestations, enrollment support, employee communication, COBRA coordination, FSA coordination, customer service, reimbursement substantiation, and ongoing plan administration. By the conclusion of the session, participants will have a stronger understanding of how an ICHRA operates, how it differs from a traditional group health plan, how employers can control healthcare spending through a defined-contribution approach, and how employees may benefit from greater choice and portability. Participants will also be able to identify the primary financial, operational, workforce, and compliance factors that should be evaluated before an organization implements an ICHRA.

Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan
Using Alphabet Soup to Heal Your Group Health Plan
325 S Moorland Rd
Brookfield, WI 53005-1248

Map & Directions