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Small employers get push to expand CHOICE Arrangements for individual plans
The rebrand follows data showing only 32% of firms with fewer than 10 employees offered health coverage in 2024, and pay-for-benefits brokers face unresolved compensation changes under the model.
The Small Business Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have launched a new federal marketing effort to expand use of individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, renaming them CHOICE Arrangements and unveiling new employer resources at an event in Indiana, according to Insurance Business.
The program mechanism is unchanged from individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements created in 2020, employers set a fixed monthly contribution and employees use those funds to buy qualifying individual health coverage of their choosing.
The government push targets small employers where health plan adoption has lagged and coverage gaps are wider. Just over half of small businesses with fewer than 100 employees offered any health plan in 2024, KFF data show, dropping to 32% at firms with fewer than 10 employees.
The outlet also flags an unresolved broker compensation issue that grows more prominent as participation increases. Under group plans, brokers can earn commissions tied to carrier premiums, while under CHOICE Arrangements employees buy individual plans on their own, changing how commissions flow, Insurance Business reports.