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ICHRA & benefits design

Leah has 10 employees today. She'll have 50 by December.

How your ICHRA budget scales as you hire.

Leah started her company with 10 people in Austin.

She set up ICHRA and the budget was manageable. Then she started hiring — fast.

Leah’s headcount sits at 10 on a scale that runs to 50, and her ICHRA budget at that headcount is $3,800 a month, or $45,600 a year.

Leah’s headcount 10 of 50

10 employees × $380 average per month

What Leah budgets today

Monthly
$3,800
Annual
$45,600
Illustrative. Ten employees at an average $380 a month.

By fall, she was at 18 across three states.

Every new employee adds to the budget. The cost depends on who she’s hiring and where.

Leah’s headcount has risen to 18 of 50. The monthly budget splits into the original 10 Austin employees at $3,800 and the eight new hires at $3,040, for $6,840 a month or $82,080 a year.

Leah’s headcount 18 of 50

three states instead of one

Where the $6,840 a month goes

  • First 10, Austin $3,800
  • 8 new hires $3,040

How an ICHRA Budget Scales As You Hire

Monthly
$6,840
Annual
$82,080

Higher-cost employees — older workers, or hires in expensive rating areas — carry more of that increase than the headcount alone suggests.

Illustrative. The same budget after eight more hires.

Where Leah is headed.

The same arithmetic, run across the range she could plausibly reach. Watch the blocks stack up as headcount grows.

Five bars compare Leah’s monthly ICHRA budget at 5, 10, 18, 25 and 50 employees: $1,900, $3,800, $6,840, $9,500 and $19,000 a month.

5 employees $1,900/mo
10 employees $3,800/mo
18 employees $6,840/mo
25 employees $9,500/mo
50 employees $19,000/mo

Every bar is the same $380 average per employee per month, from the smallest team Leah could run to the largest she is planning for.

Illustrative. The monthly budget at five fixed headcounts.

Leah modeled this before she committed.

She ran projections for 25, 40, and 50 employees. Her competitors who didn’t plan had to scramble when the bills came in.

Leah’s three projections run in sequence: 25 employees at $9,500 a month, 40 at $15,200, and 50 at $19,000 — $114,000, $182,400 and $228,000 a year.

Leah priced all three before hiring

  1. 25 people $9,500/mo
  2. 40 people $15,200/mo
  3. 50 people $19,000/mo

Annual budget at each projection

25 employees
$114,000
40 employees
$182,400
50 employees
$228,000
Illustrative. The three headcounts Leah priced in advance.