"Should we switch?" is the wrong first question. The right one is "switch from what, to what?" Here are the five moves we run for companies, including who each one is for and what to watch.
For companies that never offered benefits because every group quote looked like a second payroll. You set a monthly budget you can actually afford, and each employee picks a real ACA plan where they live. Watch for: employees currently getting big marketplace subsidies. An affordable ICHRA offer replaces those, so we run that math per employee first.
For companies of 5+ losing hires to bigger firms that want a traditional-feeling group plan: PPO network, ID cards, one plan everyone recognizes. Priced off your actual roster, quoted firm before you commit. Watch for: roster risk. If your census quotes poorly, a fully insured small-group plan is the fallback, and we'll say so.
For companies tired of double-digit renewal letters. You convert group premium spend into defined allowances, and since no group plan exists anymore, there's nothing left to reprice. Works especially well for multi-state and remote teams. Watch for: thin individual markets in your employees' counties. We check before recommending.
For groups that like having one group plan but are done subsidizing the carrier's book of business. Employees keep the group-plan experience; you get roster-based pricing, claims transparency, and surplus potential after healthy years. Watch for: underwriting. Healthy rosters win this trade, and the firm quote settles the question for free.
For companies already sophisticated about their health spend: self-funded groups tired of claims volatility, level-funded groups whose renewals crept back up, and PEO clients who outgrew the bundle. ICHRA converts all of it into a fixed budget with zero claims exposure. Watch for: timing. Exit contracts and stop-loss run-out decide your switch date. That's project management, and it's our job, not yours.
Five minutes. It places your company on this page and tells you why.
Learn your Company's Benefits DNAPlan on about 90 days before your current plan ends. Most of that window is paperwork and timing, not waiting: written notice, then loss-of-coverage letters that qualify your employees for a Special Enrollment Period so they can pick up new coverage without penalty. The switch date is the day after the old plan ends. No dead air.
That's the whole reason the timeline exists. We line up the loss-of-coverage letters and the Special Enrollment Period so new coverage starts the day the old plan stops. Nobody should have a day without coverage. If a switch can't be done cleanly, we tell you to wait, not wing it.
Yes, but be realistic about it. Changes happen at your annual renewal, not mid-year, so you're committed for the plan year once you move. And leaving a fully insured plan isn't a revolving door: coming back can mean underwriting or a worse spot in the pool. We don't treat any switch as freely reversible, and we won't recommend one we'd have to walk back.
No. On an ICHRA move especially, dumping people into the individual market with an email is how these go wrong. We walk each employee through picking a plan that fits their doctors and their meds. The budget is yours to set. The hand-holding is ours to do.
