benefitbay® is excited to announce enhanced dependent contribution functionality. Dependent contributions are applied at a per-class level and can be updated on the initial class buildout or using the Edit Class function.

The benefitbay® modeling system is built with a compliance-first mindset so guardrails are baked in to ensure the funding strategy you build and present to your clients, or prospects are compliant. For many small employers, funding at the compliant minimum may be their only option. If no additional ICHRA (Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement) funding is needed for dependents added to an employee’s coverage – simply leave all numbers for Dependent Funding as their defaults.

For those groups where the employer would like to provide additional ICHRA funding for dependents, you can adjust contributions using one of our dependent contribution features. Dependent contributions are set on a per-class basis and can if needed, be different for each additional class you model. E.g., FT/PT, hourly/salary, or location classes

Custom Contributions

The custom contribution format works best when you have a diverse population and want to tailor the dependent funding for spouse coverage as well as child-dependent coverage. Because individual policies are age-rated, a spouse rate will often be much larger than a child-dependent. By incorporating a percentage increase for the spouse, and a flat-dollar increase for the child-dependent, the system will align the spouse ICHRA funding increase as a percentage of the employee funding and include an additional dollar amount for each child-dependent added to the coverage. If the employer has a maximum spend per employee for the additional dependent funding you can enter this amount in the Max Dependent Contribution section. Leave this entry as 0 for no maximum dependent funding increase.

In this example, where the employee contribution is set at $300 the ICHRA contributions will calculate as follows:

EEO: $300

EES: $300 + $300 = $600

EE + 1 CH (EEC): $300 + $100 = $400

EE + SP + 1 CH (EEF): $300 + $300 + $100 = $700

Because the Max Contribution is left at 0, the dependent funding will continue to increase with additional dependents

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If the employer has a max spend per employee of $500, they will enter $500 as shown below and the ICHRA funding will calculate as follows:

EEO: $300

EES: $300 + $300 = Max $500

EE + 1 CH (EEC): $300 + $100 = $400

EE + SP + 1 CH (EEF): $300 + $300 + $100 = Max $500

Traditional Group Contributions

The traditional group contribution format works best when you are looking to provide a simple funding strategy that includes dynamic additional ICHRA contributions for spouse and child dependents. All additional ICHRA contributions are based on a percentage of the employee ICHRA contribution. A family unit with a spouse and 3 children will receive the same additional ICHRA contributions as a family unit with a spouse and 1 child. Additional funding does not have a per-employee max using this funding strategy.

In this example, where the employee contribution is set at $300 the ICHRA contributions will calculate as follows:

EEO: $300

EES: $300 + ($300 x 100%) = $600

EE + 1 CH (EEC): $300 + ($300 x 70%) = $510

EE + SP + 1 CH (EEF): $300 + ($300 x 170%) = $810