# HRA Council releases its 2026 adoption report Canonical reader page: https://ichrareport.com/news/hra-council-2026-report-release/ Publisher: ICHRA Report Originally published: 2026-09-12 Substantively updated: 2026-09-12 Sources checked: 2026-09-11 Data period: Report released: August 12, 2026 [Home](https://ichrareport.com/) [News](https://ichrareport.com/news/) HRA Council releases its 2026 adoption report Research release The HRA Council's 2026 report adds information about employers offering health reimbursement arrangements. Read what its participating companies reported and why changes in who supplied data matter when comparing growth across years. At a glance Evidence **Sourced reporting** Event / data period **Report released: August 12, 2026** Review cutoff **September 11, 2026** By [ICHRA Report](https://ichrareport.com/about/) · Published September 12, 2026 New research The HRA Council released Volume Five of its adoption research on August 12. The report adds useful evidence about employers and enrollment, but its headline growth figures should travel with the definitions and contributor boundaries behind them. ## What was released The association’s announcement presents the new report as evidence of continued HRA adoption. Its reporting hub identifies 17 contributing organizations. The underlying publication uses a January 31, 2026 observation date; an August release is not a live August enrollment count. [source](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/strong-ichra-growth-among-large-employers-strengthens-aca-marketplace-and-risk-pool-hra-council-report-finds-302849192.html) [source](https://www.hracouncil.org/report) [source](https://www.hracouncil.org/resources/Documents/2026%20HRA%20Council%20Data%20Report%20-%20PDF%20Version.pdf) We reviewed the full report and its methodology, rather than relying solely on the announcement. The important editorial task is to establish which figure describes an observed record, which includes dependents through an assumption, and which extrapolates beyond the contributing organizations. ## Why the contributor base matters Consider a hypothetical research program. If ten administrators submit data in one year and fifteen submit data the next, the total can increase even before accounting for growth within any administrator’s own book. A comparison restricted to organizations present in both years answers a different question from the expanded total. Neither question is inherently useless. The expanded group can improve coverage of a market that researchers previously could not see. The repeated group provides a more consistent starting point for examining growth. Readers need both labels before they decide what a headline means. ## How to read the release Our [adoption measurement analysis](https://ichrareport.com/research/ichra-adoption-measurement-2026/) separates employees, estimated covered lives, market estimates and growth within a repeated contributor group. It also places a newer HealthSherpa channel update alongside the Council report without averaging incompatible estimates. The [contribution-data analysis](https://ichrareport.com/research/hra-contribution-data-2026/) examines the report’s allowance measures and explains why an employer should not adopt a national sample median as its own contribution budget. ## Keep the larger Marketplace in its own column CMS’s 23.1 million 2026 Marketplace plan selections measure the wider individual insurance market. They are not an ICHRA adoption count and do not include every off-Marketplace policy. [source](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/exchange-coverage-remains-near-record-high-23-1-million-enroll-2026-reflecting-continued-strength) The strongest use of the new research is to sharpen the questions employers, brokers and researchers ask next. What population is covered? Is the comparison stable over time? What would a result look like for a different workforce? A publication becomes more useful when those questions remain visible beside its numbers. ## Sources and evidence [1 HRA Council via PR Newswire — 2026 Growth Trends report announcement Association-issued release establishes announcement date and positioning. The underlying PDF controls numerical interpretation. Source reviewed 2026-09-11](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/strong-ichra-growth-among-large-employers-strengthens-aca-marketplace-and-risk-pool-hra-council-report-finds-302849192.html)[2 HRA Council — 2026 Growth Trends report hub and methodology Reporting hub lists 17 contributing organizations. The full report has now been reviewed; see the separate Volume Five source for figures and methodology. Source reviewed 2026-09-11](https://www.hracouncil.org/report)[3 HRA Council — Growth Trends for ICHRA & QSEHRA, Volume Five Full 14-page report reviewed, including tables on pages 6, 8–10 and methodology on page 13. January 31 observation date; contributed records, estimated covered lives, and matched-cohort growth have different denominators. Source reviewed 2026-09-11](https://www.hracouncil.org/resources/Documents/2026%20HRA%20Council%20Data%20Report%20-%20PDF%20Version.pdf)[4 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — 2026 Marketplace Open Enrollment Report Reports 23.1 million Marketplace plan selections or automatic re-enrollments during the 2026 open enrollment period. Source reviewed 2026-08-16](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/exchange-coverage-remains-near-record-high-23-1-million-enroll-2026-reflecting-continued-strength) 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.