Questions this page answers
Use this guide to request comparable proposals, resolve who gets billed and separate administrator fees from the rest of an employer's benefits budget.
How should an employer compare ICHRA administrator quotes?
Compare written ICHRA administrator proposals using the same eligible headcount, expected enrollment, period and service requirements. Confirm the billing population, base fee, per-person fee, minimums, setup and other charges before calculating. Check who handles enrollment help, payments, payroll reconciliation and unresolved problems. A fee total compares only the modeled charges; it does not establish equivalent service or a best provider.
Evidence: Common proposal requirements · Service responsibilities to compare.
Check the fee calculation and its assumptions: How supported contract terms become a comparable administration-fee total.
Does per-employee pricing charge everyone eligible for ICHRA?
The written quote determines who is billed. A rate based on eligible employees can charge for workers who decline the benefit; a rate based on enrolled participants uses a different population. Ask whether administrator accounts are additional, whether minimum paid seats apply and when enrollment changes affect invoices. If the quote only says 'per employee', the billing population is unresolved. Do not assume enrolled-only billing or substitute zero for a missing fee.
Evidence: Billing population and documented examples.
Resolve missing terms before calculating: The exact clarification needed before an unknown term can be used as an input.
Can I add an administrator quote to a published insurance premium to estimate my total ICHRA cost?
An administrator fee plus one published premium is not a complete employer ICHRA budget. Administrator fees pay for services; actual employer reimbursements and other costs need their own assumptions. The insurance-price explorer contains a 2026 CMS snapshot for 30 states, with selected-age monthly premiums before assistance or employer contributions. It is not a live quote, a 2027 inventory or an affordability calculation. Match the plan year, employee locations, coverage and funding assumptions before using figures together; these pages do not verify an employer-specific combined total.
Evidence: CMS snapshot coverage and limitations · Separate components of employer cost.
Inspect the dated plan evidence for an employee's county: Which published plan records are available to investigate, with local coverage and pricing still to confirm.
Ask each administrator to price the same workforce, period and service requirements. Then compare the totals alongside the work included.
Create one request for all three providers
Set a common eligible headcount, expected participating headcount, proposed launch date, coverage period, operating locations and required services. Identify who will handle employee assistance, payroll reconciliation, premium-payment issues and reporting. State which assumptions remain provisional.
Give every provider the same opportunity to flag a missing requirement. Keep a dated copy of the request so a later proposal revision can be explained. Avoid comparing one fully managed service with another administrator's software-only entry price as though the scope were identical.
Resolve the billing denominator
Per-employee-per-month pricing is incomplete until “employee” is defined. Ask whether charges use eligible employees, enrolled employees, minimum seats or other billable accounts. Then establish when enrollment changes affect invoices and whether a monthly minimum applies.
For example, PeopleKeep's pricing page describes a three-seat minimum and charges for account administrators. Thatch's current page shows a four-enrolled-employee Standard example of $230 monthly and a separate Custom minimum of $2,400 yearly for ten enrolled employees. These are different billing structures, and the example does not establish a universal compliance fee. source source
Use the worksheet, with unknowns intact
The ICHRA quote-comparison worksheet compares three scenarios without assigning a quality ranking. Enter an explicit zero only when a fee has been confirmed as zero. Leaving a required amount blank keeps that quote incomplete.
The tool separates recurring administration, one-time setup and other fees for the comparison period. An optional allowance ceiling appears separately. It excludes insurance premiums, actual reimbursements, employee taxes and internal HR costs; add those to the broader total-cost analysis.
Attach a service checklist
- Launch: deliverables, milestones, responsibilities and implementation exclusions.
- Employee help: available support, licensed assistance, hours and escalation paths.
- Money movement: who pays, who reconciles, and who resolves rejected or missing payments.
- Connections: specific payroll or HRIS workflows, data frequency and manual work.
- Contract: minimum term, renewal changes, cancellation, data export and transition support.
For each item, record included, extra charge, employer responsibility or unresolved. Ask for written scope instead of converting a demo statement into a contractual commitment. A lower price accompanied by substantially more employer work is a different proposition.
Compare the evidence, then decide
Review the same participation assumptions across all quotes, then test a lower and a higher scenario. A provider billed on eligible headcount can behave differently from one billed on enrollment. Minimums can reduce or eliminate the expected savings from lower participation.
Finish with a short recommendation that identifies cost, scope, remaining questions and the conditions for selection. The public pricing-transparency report helps prepare that request; it does not replace a dated proposal for your company.
Sources and evidence
Review dates are recorded for each source above. Company pages are useful for confirming how a product is described, but they do not prove service quality or customer results.
Read this article as Markdown — the same explanation, evidence and limitations in text form.