If you’re looking for medical expense reimbursement plan rules, learning about a health reimbursement arrangement is a good place to start. They allow business owners to reimburse their employees on a tax-free basis for health insurance premiums and qualified medical expenses. There are two types of HRAs that make it possible to reimburse employees for qualified medical expenses tax-free. We’ll walk you through all there is to know about HRA rules for employers.
Some context for medical expense reimbursement plan rules
Tax-free reimbursement for medical expenses used to be a common practice for small business owners. However, when the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) passed in 2010, the law had the unintended consequence of disallowing tax-free reimbursement for small companies. The primary hang-up was an interpretation that any company that reimbursed for health insurance (including individual) was technically a group plan. According to the ACA, group plans are required to provide preventive care at no cost. Since employers that reimbursed for individual plans did not meet the preventive care requirements, they would be subject to group plan penalties of up to $100 per employee per day.
While Congress addressed the hotly debated topic of "Obamacare," little was done to help fix the problem. In late 2015 the IRS started enforcing the provision and leveraging hefty fines and penalties for companies caught reimbursing for individual health insurance.
In late 2016, the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act was signed into law by President Obama that opened up the doors for health reimbursement arrangements for small employers. Three years later, regulatory rule updates allowed for this same treatment to be used by employers of all sizes and with a greater degree of flexibility.
HRAs make medical expense reimbursement possible
QSEHRA: a Qualified Small Employer HRA allows small employers to set aside a fixed amount of money each month that employees can use to purchase individual health insurance or use on medical expenses, tax-free. This means employers get to offer benefits in a tax-efficient manner without the hassle or headache of administering a traditional group plan and employees can choose the plan they want. The key thing to remember here is that all employees must be reimbursed at the same level. The QSEHRA is designed for employers with less than 50 employees to reimburse for premiums and medical expenses if the plan allows.
ICHRA: an Individual Coverage HRA is a new “flavor” of HRA that allows employers of any size to reimburse any amount per month for healthcare expenses incurred by employees on a tax-free basis, starting at any time of the year. The distinguishing element of this HRA is that employees can be divided into an unlimited number of classes, like hourly vs. salary or even based on location, and be reimbursed at different levels. The ICHRA is for companies of any size. There are no limits to how much an employer can offer for reimbursement.
So, what are the medical expense reimbursement plan rules?
Employers have a lot of flexibility over what is reimbursed. Understanding the impact of these options can go a long way towards helping the employer achieve their objectives and keep their budget in check.
- Reimburse Insurance Premiums Only: Employers can limit reimbursements to only go towards eligible premium expenses. Typically, this refers to individual health insurance premiums but could also include eligible dental premiums, vision premiums, etc. as long as the employee has Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) for QSEHRA or a qualified health plan for ICHRA.
- Reimburse Insurance Premiums and Medical Expenses: Most employers choose to allow medical expenses to be reimbursed too. Note: Employers can choose to exclude categories of expenses (i.e., “prescriptions”) as long as the exclusion is applied fairly to everyone.
Wondering what counts as qualified medical expenses? Here’s a comprehensive list!
→ Deep dive into common HRA compliance issues.
Still have questions about medical expense reimbursement plan rules?
Hopefully we've been able to shed some light on your options. We have a ton of excellent resources available to you, including FAQ pages for the ICHRA and QSEHRA. Or you can always chat with one of our HRA experts online!
