Our colleagues at Mark Farrah Associates estimate that more than 4 million people –– out of a record-breaking 20+ million Americans –– enrolled in health insurance off-exchange in 2023. We at the HRA Council are ready to explore how many of the 1 in 5 Americans who selected ACA-compliant health coverage off-exchange in 2023 were employees leveraging an ICHRA or QSEHRA.  But first, here's the article.

Jim Lord, Senior Vice President/General Manager, ADP Insurance Services, offers his take on Four Misconceptions About Health Reimbursement Arrangements. See full story here. 

New research from Stride’s annual Health Insurance Accessibility Report analyzes the different healthcare challenges that independent workers and self-employed Americans face as compared to individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance. This year’s report demonstrates a decrease in uninsured independent workers – down from 24 percent in 2022 to 19 percent in 2023. Link to the story here. 

HealthcareDive took a look at Centene's take on the future of ACA.  Senior reporter Rebecca Pifer reports that Jon Dinesman, Centene executive vice president of external affairs, told investors in a recent gathering, “If you look at the political history of major healthcare benefit programs, once you giveth you cannot taketh away. Not only is it politically complex to eliminate programs people rely on, but it is also politically unlikely for there to be major proactive reform as one of the parties would have to control both the House and Senate as well as the White House. We see this as highly improbable." See story here. 

On November 30, Ambetter Health, the health insurance marketplace carrier of Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), announced a partnership with Take Command, an innovative health benefits platform, to offer high-quality, cost-effective and flexible Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRA) to employers in Indiana. See full article.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports that nearly 7.3 million Americans have signed up for 2024 individual market health insurance coverage through the Marketplaces since the start of the 2024 Marketplace Open Enrollment Period (OEP) on November 1. This includes 6.5 million plan selections in the 32 states using the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2024 plan year, through December 2, 2023 (Week 5), and 775,000 plan selections in the 18 states and the District of Columbia with State-based Marketplaces (SBMs) that are using their own eligibility and enrollment platforms, through November 25, 2023 (Week 4). Total nationwide plan selections include 1.6 million consumers (23% of total) who are new to the Marketplaces for 2024, and 5.7 million consumers (77% of total) who have active 2023 coverage and returned to their respective Marketplaces to renew or select a new plan for 2024.

See the data here. 

Stride CEO Noah Lang breaks down the top four most important things that self-employed workers need to know about enrolling in health insurance in this Fast Company op-ed. 

Remodel Health is making headlines with the release of its "2023 National Health Benefits Analysis." Check out the latest coverage here. Read the report online at www.remodelhealth.com.

HRA Council members and clients of our members are quoted in this piece by Bloomberg Law Senior Reporter Sara Hansard. "Larger Employers Fund Worker Obamacare Option as Costs Spike" offers a look at the growing interest in ICHRAs in the face of skyrocketing costs.  

Adam Olson, VP of Growth Management at SureCo, writes in Manufacturing.Net, that manufacturers need to see ICHRAs as a means to attract and retain employees.  See story here.