When you’re considering the move to an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA), you want to be prepared for what the process will entail so there aren’t any unanticipated steps. But for most companies, group health insurance has been the norm for decades, so the ICHRA migration process might feel like unchartered territory.
To help put your mind at ease, we asked SureCo’s Enterprise Operations Director and lead migration specialist, Jennifer Ross, to give us an overview of what to expect. Throughout this process, SureCo’s migration team, customer experience specialists and employee experience specialists will work closely with the company’s human resources department and key financial decision makers to stay aligned. SureCo also partners with the broker or benefits consultant to deliver a unified message. Take a deeper dive into the phases of the ICHRA implementation process below:
Scoping
Ross describes the first phase of the migration process as scoping, which is to say, SureCo places a huge emphasis on collaborating with every individual company to understand their pain points and why they want their business to migrate from traditional group coverage to individual plans.
Knowing why an ICHRA is the right solution for the company helps to customize the messaging about the switch, which ultimately leads to a more successful implementation. Employees can be hesitant to hear they need to make changes to their health benefits, but when SureCo can give them clear, honest reasons for the switch, there is less pushback and more enthusiasm.
This is also a time for SureCo to set expectations about how our team will be customizing the plan and walking the company through it — and to ensure that we will act as a trustworthy extension of the company’s HR team.
Plan Education
In the next phase, plan education, the SureCo team works to make sure this process will be tailored to the needs of this company and not just a supposed one-size-fits-all approach. The team will figure out how to make this plan work best for you or your client, including asking questions like:
- What’s the best mode of communication? Email or text?
- Is it most effective and accessible to have web-based trainings?
- Will employees need bilingual support?
This information will help to make SureCo has the right team in place to deliver on building the plan and the plan design, making sure that it fits into the system. Then, the team will educate the company and their employees on the ICHRA process, getting that material customized in a format that seamlessly fits in with how the company works.
Implementation
Once Open Enrollment begins, SureCo has all hands on deck. We have a call center and a support team that can answer questions, and the migration team has passed on the key learnings from the earlier stages to them so that they're equipped to serve the employees most effectively.
Also in this phase, SureCo is working behind the scenes to ensure the company is compliant with all relevant legislation and requirements, and that all their legal documents are in place, from the plan SBC to the wrap document.
Support doesn’t end with Open Enrollment, though. All our teams are available year-round to help our partners, customers and their employees with any needs that arise.
For more specifics on how it could work for you, book a 15-minute consultation with one of our benefits experts.
