QSEHRA review from a healthcare IT consultant

In 2014, Geoff Turner founded GAT Consulting Services, Inc., a healthcare IT consulting firm based in Fort Lauderdale. Now, with several clients, a handful of strategic partnerships and one employee, Geoff has his hands full. With technology and the healthcare industry changing at rapid-fire pace, Geoff explains that a major growing pain for his company has been finding people with the right skill sets to join his team.

Everyone knows that a good strategy to recruit and maintain talent is to offer “big company” benefits with group health plans. But for a company with only two full time employees, a group plan isn’t really an option. 

It all started with a Google search

Wanting to take care of his employee and continue to build his team, Geoff began googling alternatives for group plans, hoping to find a smart solution that would work within his budget. Through his research, Geoff was excited to learn that with the recent bipartisan 21^st Century Cures Act, Congress created a special kind of HRA for small businesses called a QSEHRA (Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement).

Why a QSEHRA was a good fit

The most important thing about the small business HRA is that it allows business owners like Geoff to reimburse employees tax-free for individual health insurance premiums and medical expenses. This is a big deal because now small company can get the same favorable tax treatment as big company group health plans but with a lot less hassle. As a primary shareholder, Geoff isn’t eligible to participate, so only one employee will be benefiting at this point.

It enables Geoff to adopt a strategy called "defined contribution" which is much simpler than hassling with a one-size-fits all group plan and is proven to be much more efficient, affordable, and predictable. Geoff opted to give his employee a fixed dollar amount each month, in this case, $300, and his employee can then shop for the plan that fits her needs the best. She plans to use part of those funds to pay for Lasik eye surgery, one of the many qualified medical expenses that can be reimbursed through a small business HRA.

The QSEHRA was especially attractive to him since he would have the option to contribute large sums to his employee’s healthcare costs and the employee had the flexibility to choose her own plan and reimburse herself. An added bonus is that with a proper admin tool, the HRA would be quick and easy.

Choosing a QSEHRA admin tool

After vetting a few possible options for the QSEHRA admin tool, he opted for Take Command over its competitors. And the decision was simple.

 “Take Command was the easiest to work with and the quickest to respond to inquiries,” shared Geoff.

A customized admin portal created just for Geoff allows him to review and approve HRA documents, view monthly reimbursement reports, add/remove employees, manage subscriptions, update payment information, and see overview information about HRAs.

“It was easy working with the Take Command team,” adds Geoff. “They actually want to help.”

Take Command is here to help

As a startup, Take Command understands first-hand the challenges that come with starting your own business. We are on your side.

That’s why we’ve created our small business platform—to help entrepreneurs like Geoff. We handle all the accounting and legal legwork, onboard employees, offer a quick online signup process and make tax season easy and painless.

Want to see if an HRA could work for your small business? Learn more about our small business platform or schedule a call with one of our small business HRA experts today.