ICHRA for Colorado employers.
You set a monthly dollar amount. Employees buy their own plan. You reimburse it tax-free. Your benefits cost becomes a number you pick, not a renewal you absorb.
Built for Colorado companies with 5 to 50 employees. No cost to you or your employees.
What we need to quote it
Send a census and we come back with real numbers.
- Ages and ZIP codes, no names needed
- Headcount, and how many are full-time
- What you spend today, if you offer anything
- Your renewal date, if you have one
The 2027 numbers
Premium increase: Colorado Division of Insurance, final approved 2027 ACA premiums, September 22, 2026. By rating area the approved small-group increases run from 9.9% to 15.2%.
What an ICHRA is
An Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement lets you give employees a set monthly amount to buy their own health insurance, reimbursed tax-free. It has been federal law since 2020.
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01
You set the amount
Say $450 a month per employee. You can vary it by class, such as full-time against part-time, and by family size and age.
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02
Employees buy their own plan
Any qualifying individual plan. They pick the network their own doctor is in.
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03
You reimburse it, tax-free
No payroll tax for you, no income tax for them. Money only goes out for employees who enroll.
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04
We enroll every one of them
One-on-one, and that is the part employers worry about. We handle it.
Some companies spend less on an ICHRA. Plenty spend about the same. Either way, you set the number in a budget meeting instead of reading it in a renewal letter.
Who it works for, and who it does not
Usually a good fit
- Facing a double-digit renewal increase
- Offering nothing today and wanting to start
- Employees spread across Colorado
- Higher turnover, where waiting periods and participation minimums are a headache
- Low take-up on your current group plan
- Wanting budget certainty more than a specific plan design
Probably not, and we will say so
- A rich group plan your employees like
- Mostly lower-wage employees who would do better with marketplace financial help
- Fewer than 5 employees
- 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees, which brings affordability testing and a longer timeline
We run the numbers before we recommend anything. If your people come out better with marketplace financial help than with ICHRA dollars, we will tell you and we will not do this.
When you need to decide
Employees are generally owed 90 days of notice before the plan year starts. For a January 1, 2027 start, that puts the deadline in early October.
- Later than early October still works
A first-time ICHRA has more flexibility on the notice, and being offered one opens a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) on its own.
- Open Enrollment Period (OEP) is the backstop
It runs November 1 through January 15, with December 15 the deadline for coverage starting January 1.
- Late December does not work
If January is not realistic, we pick a later start date.
Notice requirement: the federal individual coverage HRA rules, summarized by CMS. Employees who become eligible mid-year get notice by the date their coverage can begin.
What it costs to run
Administration runs through a compliance platform that handles plan documents, substantiation and reimbursements. Published pricing generally runs $15 to $29 per enrolled employee per month, and some vendors add a platform or setup fee on top. You get an exact number in writing with your proposal.
There is no separate fee for our work, on either side.
Administration pricing: published vendor rates as of September 2026. PeopleKeep lists $25 per employee per month plus a $50 base fee.