HRAs: The Middle Child of Healthcare Benefit Accounts
Published on July 17th, 2014
As the “first born” healthcare benefit account, flexible spending accounts (FSAs) have long been a staple in employer benefit packages. Meanwhile health savings accounts (HSAs) – the younger, flashier, attention-seeking “sibling” – have become headline news and have us all speculating about the potential of what’s to come.
Often overshadowed, health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), our industry’s “middle child”, offer steady growth and their own distinct value proposition – but they can be complex and challenging.
HRAs are a versatile tool to enable employers reduce healthcare costs, enhance benefit programs and improve employee satisfaction. From the continued adoption of high deductible plans paired with HRAs, to defined contribution plans with underlying HRAs, to the growth of retiree HRAs – market forces are favorable for growth. Over the past 3 years, HRAs have averaged double-digit account growth, and are projected to grow at a CAGR of 12% over the next three years. Clearly, HRAs represent a market opportunity that health plans and third party administrators cannot afford to ignore.
However, due to their flexible nature and often complex plan designs – such as embedded deductibles, claims crossover, coverage tiers, and cost sharing – HRAs can be challenging to design and administer. Brokers are renowned for their creativity in designing HRA plans, but are you able to efficiently support these wild plan designs… or are you turning away inbound leads? If you’ve been reticent about launching or expanding your HRA business, your competition may be winning more business than you think.
During this on-demand webinar, we review of the HRA market opportunity and examine macro-level market forces impacting and driving HRA growth. We share unique data points and HRA benchmarking analysis from the Alegeus customer base. And, we take a detailed look at what makes HRA programs truly successful – while providing proven practices for growing HRA revenue in an efficient, scalable manner.
Opportunity lies ahead; the middle child isn’t as challenging as you think!
