In Half 1 of this collectionwe examined the ache factors that make conventional group medical health insurance difficult for trucking corporations: unpredictable premium will increase, one-size-fits-all protection that does not match various workforces, heavy administrative burden, restrictive participation necessities, and restricted flexibility in plan design.
The excellent news? There’s a greater strategy to trucking firm medical health insurance that solves these issues whereas supplying you with value predictability and operational simplicity.
Well being Reimbursement Preparations (HRAs) basically change how transportation corporations present well being advantages. As a substitute of buying a bunch coverage with unpredictable renewals and administrative complications, you set a set month-to-month allowance and workers buy particular person protection that matches their particular wants. You get finances certainty, they get selection and portability, and everybody advantages from simplified administration.
On this information, we’ll clarify how HRAs work for transportation corporations, the distinction between ICHRA and QSEHRA, and decide which choice is true to your fleet.
Understanding HRA for transportation: A distinct strategy
Well being Reimbursement Preparations basically restructure the connection between employers and medical health insurance. As a substitute of buying a bunch coverage, you present workers with a month-to-month allowance to buy particular person medical health insurance protection.
There are two main sorts of HRAs related to trucking corporations:
QSEHRA (Certified Small Employer HRA): Designed for corporations with fewer than 50 workers. As of 2026, the utmost reimbursement below a QSEHRA plan is $6,450 for a single worker’s protection and $13,100 for household protection. All full-time workers should be provided the identical profit quantity.
Study extra about QSEHRA limits in 2026
ICHRA (Particular person Protection HRA): Obtainable to corporations of any measurement with no contribution limits. Permits employers to create totally different worker lessons (equivalent to full-time drivers, part-time warehouse employees, salaried workers, or workers in several geographic areas) and provide totally different reimbursement quantities to every class.
For each sorts of HRAs, the mechanics are simple: you set a month-to-month reimbursement quantity, workers buy particular person medical health insurance, and also you reimburse them tax-free for his or her premiums (as much as your set quantity). Workers keep their particular person protection even when they alter jobs, and also you keep full value predictability.
How HRAs handle trucking firm ache factors
HRAs aren’t only a totally different manner to offer medical health insurance—they’re particularly designed to unravel the issues that make group insurance coverage tough for companies like trucking corporations.
Fastened, predictable prices
With an HRA, you determine precisely how a lot to contribute per worker or worker class, and that quantity does not change until you select to vary it. Should you set a $500 month-to-month allowance for drivers, you will spend $500 per driver per 30 days, not $500 this 12 months and $625 subsequent 12 months due to claims expertise or provider price will increase.
This transforms well being advantages from a variable expense into a set value, just like wages. You may challenge your advantages prices for the following three, 5, or ten years with confidence. When bidding on contracts or planning enlargement, you realize exactly what your per-employee well being profit prices will likely be.
For a trucking firm that was paying $750 per worker per 30 days for group insurance coverage and dealing with a 30% renewal enhance, switching to an ICHRA with a $550 month-to-month allowance gives speedy value financial savings of over $200 per worker month-to-month, or $2,400 per worker yearly. For a 50-employee firm, that is $120,000 in annual financial savings…financial savings which might be assured to not evaporate at subsequent 12 months’s renewal.
Flexibility for various workforces
ICHRA’s class-based construction solves the one-size-fits-all downside. You may provide totally different reimbursement quantities based mostly on:
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Employment standing (full-time vs. part-time)
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Geographic location (state or area)
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Job class (drivers vs. warehouse vs. workplace)
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Wage vs. hourly standing
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Seasonal vs. year-round employment
Study extra about ICHRA worker lessons
A trucking firm with operations in California, Texas, and Ohio may provide $650/month to California workers (the place particular person insurance coverage is dearer), $500/month to Texas workers, and $550/month to Ohio workers. This ensures workers in all states can entry high quality protection whereas avoiding overpaying in low-cost markets.
Equally, you may provide long-haul drivers $600/month whereas providing part-time dock staff $400/month, reflecting totally different aggressive pressures for these positions.
The result’s that every worker class will get an acceptable profit with out forcing everybody into the identical mould.
Minimal administrative burden
HRA administration is dramatically less complicated than managing group medical health insurance. As a substitute of coordinating enrollment home windows, managing COBRA, answering detailed protection questions, and serving because the go-between with insurance coverage carriers, you’re employed with an HRA administrator who handles the operational complexity.
With Take Command as your HRA administrator, we handle the plan doc setup, compliance notices, worker schooling, reimbursement processing, and ongoing help. Your function is restricted to the strategic choices: figuring out reimbursement quantities for every worker class and funding the HRA by means of your common payroll course of.
Workers enroll in particular person protection throughout the annual open enrollment interval (November 1 – January 15) or throughout qualifying life occasions. Take Command gives customized steerage to assist them navigate {the marketplace}, evaluate plans, and enroll in protection that matches their wants. As soon as enrolled, workers submit proof of protection and reimbursements course of robotically every month.
For trucking corporations, this drastically reduces inside advantages administration time, liberating up HR capability for recruiting, coaching, security packages, and different operational priorities.
No participation necessities
With an HRA, there is no minimal participation threshold. Whether or not 20% of your workers or 100% select to enroll in particular person protection and declare reimbursements does not have an effect on your skill to supply the profit.
That is notably invaluable for trucking corporations with various workforces. Half-time workers who’re coated below a partner’s plan can decline particular person protection. Workers who stay on their dad and mom’ plans can decide out. Seasonal staff who solely want protection for a part of the 12 months can enroll throughout their employment interval.
You continue to provide a invaluable profit to everybody, however you are not compelled to govern plan design or contribution ranges to hit synthetic participation targets.
Worker selection and portability
When workers store for particular person protection, they select plans that match their particular wants. A driver who frequently sees specialists can prioritize a plan with these docs in-network. An worker with a power situation can choose protection that features their present suppliers and drugs. A household can select protection with sturdy pediatric advantages.
This selection creates larger satisfaction with advantages. As a substitute of being assigned a plan which will or could not work for his or her state of affairs, workers actively choose protection they worth.
Particular person protection can also be transportable. When an worker leaves your organization, their medical health insurance does not finish, they merely proceed paying the premiums themselves. This continuity advantages the worker and eliminates COBRA administration to your firm.
QSEHRA vs. ICHRA: Selecting the best match
For trucking corporations with fewer than 50 workers, the selection between QSEHRA and ICHRA will depend on your particular wants.
Select QSEHRA if:
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You need the only doable implementation
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The contribution limits ($6,450 single / $13,100 household yearly) are enough to your market
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You are comfy providing the identical profit to all full-time workers
- You need minimal ongoing administration
Select ICHRA if:
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You wish to provide totally different quantities to totally different worker teams
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You need flexibility to regulate contribution quantities as your organization grows
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The QSEHRA contribution limits really feel restrictive to your aggressive wants
- You use in a number of states and wish to modify for geographic value variations
Many small trucking corporations begin with QSEHRA for its simplicity and may transition to ICHRA later in the event that they develop past 50 workers or need extra flexibility in plan design.
Making the choice
For many trucking corporations dealing with group insurance coverage renewals with double-digit will increase, the monetary case for HRAs is obvious. The mix of speedy value financial savings, long-term predictability, and administrative simplification makes HRAs a strategic answer quite than only a advantages determination. Evaluating medical health insurance for trucking corporations means wanting past simply premium prices to think about administrative burden and suppleness.
Working with an skilled HRA administrator who understands the transportation business ensures a easy transition and ongoing compliance. The administrator handles plan paperwork, worker schooling, reimbursement processing, and regulatory necessities, permitting you to concentrate on working your trucking enterprise whereas providing aggressive well being advantages that assist appeal to and retain high quality drivers.
Conventional trucking firm medical health insurance does not have to empty your finances or restrict your development. HRAs present an answer that provides you predictable prices, administrative simplicity, and the aggressive advantages you have to appeal to and retain workers.
Prepared to realize management over your trucking firm’s medical health insurance prices? Speak to a Take Command professional to discover how ICHRA or QSEHRA can present predictable budgets and aggressive advantages to your drivers and employees.
Incessantly requested questions on HRAs for trucking corporations
Can we nonetheless provide an HRA if now we have drivers in a number of states?
Sure, and that is really one of many largest benefits of HRAs for multi-state operations. Every worker purchases particular person protection of their state of residence, so that you needn’t discover a group plan with enough networks throughout all of your working areas. ICHRA even means that you can set totally different reimbursement quantities by state to account for geographic value variations.
What occurs to our HRA if we develop past 50 workers?
Should you begin with a QSEHRA and develop past 50 workers, you may transition to an ICHRA at your subsequent plan 12 months. ICHRA works the identical manner however removes the contribution caps and means that you can create worker lessons with totally different reimbursement quantities. Your HRA administrator will help you make this transition seamlessly.
Do now we have to supply the HRA to all workers, together with part-time drivers?
No. You may select which worker lessons are eligible to your HRA. Many trucking corporations provide HRAs solely to full-time workers, or create separate lessons for part-time staff with totally different (or no) reimbursement quantities. You will have flexibility to design the profit construction that is sensible for what you are promoting.
How do reimbursements work for workers who’re on the street throughout open enrollment?
Take Command gives ongoing help all year long, not simply throughout open enrollment. Drivers can enroll in protection from anyplace with web entry, and our crew is out there by cellphone or e-mail to information them by means of the method. As soon as enrolled, reimbursements course of robotically every month with out requiring ongoing motion from the worker.
What if an worker cannot afford the complete premium even with our HRA reimbursement?
Many workers qualify for premium tax credit on the ACA market based mostly on their family revenue, which might considerably cut back their out-of-pocket prices. Take Command helps workers perceive whether or not they’re eligible for these subsidies and apply them. In some instances, the mixture of your HRA reimbursement and market subsidies means workers pay little to nothing for protection.
