In Half 1 of this sequence, we examined the ache factors that make conventional group medical insurance difficult for trucking corporations: unpredictable premium will increase, one-size-fits-all protection that does not match numerous workforces, heavy administrative burden, restrictive participation necessities, and restricted flexibility in plan design.
The excellent news? There’s a greater method to trucking firm medical insurance that solves these issues whereas supplying you with price predictability and operational simplicity.
Well being Reimbursement Preparations (HRAs) essentially change how transportation corporations present well being advantages. As an alternative of buying a bunch coverage with unpredictable renewals and administrative complications, you set a hard and fast month-to-month allowance and staff buy particular person protection that matches their particular wants. You get price range certainty, they get alternative 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 the best way to decide which possibility is true to your fleet.
Understanding HRA for transportation: A distinct method
Well being Reimbursement Preparations essentially restructure the connection between employers and medical insurance. As an alternative of buying a bunch coverage, you present staff with a month-to-month allowance to buy particular person medical insurance protection.
There are two major forms of HRAs related to trucking corporations:
QSEHRA (Certified Small Employer HRA): Designed for corporations with fewer than 50 staff. As of 2026, the utmost reimbursement beneath a QSEHRA plan is $6,450 for a single worker’s protection and $13,100 for household protection. All full-time staff have to be supplied the identical profit quantity.
Study extra about QSEHRA limits in 2026
ICHRA (Particular person Protection HRA): Accessible to corporations of any dimension with no contribution limits. Permits employers to create totally different worker lessons (equivalent to full-time drivers, part-time warehouse workers, salaried staff, or staff in several geographic areas) and provide totally different reimbursement quantities to every class.
For each forms of HRAs, the mechanics are easy: you set a month-to-month reimbursement quantity, staff buy particular person medical 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 modify jobs, and also you keep full price predictability.
How HRAs tackle trucking firm ache factors
HRAs aren’t only a totally different approach to supply medical 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 resolve precisely how a lot to contribute per worker or worker class, and that quantity would not change until you select to alter it. When you set a $500 month-to-month allowance for drivers, you may spend $500 per driver per 30 days, not $500 this 12 months and $625 subsequent 12 months due to claims expertise or provider fee will increase.
This transforms well being advantages from a variable expense into a hard and fast price, much like wages. You possibly can undertaking your advantages prices for the following three, 5, or ten years with confidence. When bidding on contracts or planning enlargement, you already know 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 improve, switching to an ICHRA with a $550 month-to-month allowance offers fast price 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 numerous workforces
ICHRA’s class-based construction solves the one-size-fits-all downside. You possibly can 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 would possibly provide $650/month to California staff (the place particular person insurance coverage is costlier), $500/month to Texas staff, and $550/month to Ohio staff. This ensures staff in all states can entry high quality protection whereas avoiding overpaying in low-cost markets.
Equally, you would possibly 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 applicable profit with out forcing everybody into the identical mildew.
Minimal administrative burden
HRA administration is dramatically less complicated than managing group medical insurance. As an alternative 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 training, reimbursement processing, and ongoing help. Your function is restricted to the strategic selections: figuring out reimbursement quantities for every worker class and funding the HRA by way of your common payroll course of.
Workers enroll in particular person protection through the annual open enrollment interval (November 1 – January 15) or throughout qualifying life occasions. Take Command offers personalised steerage to assist them navigate {the marketplace}, evaluate plans, and enroll in protection that matches their wants. As soon as enrolled, staff submit proof of protection and reimbursements course of robotically every month.
For trucking corporations, this drastically reduces inner advantages administration time, liberating up HR capability for recruiting, coaching, security applications, and different operational priorities.
No participation necessities
With an HRA, there is not any minimal participation threshold. Whether or not 20% of your staff or 100% select to enroll in particular person protection and declare reimbursements would not have an effect on your means to supply the profit.
That is notably beneficial for trucking corporations with numerous workforces. Half-time staff who’re coated beneath 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 beneficial profit to everybody, however you are not compelled to control plan design or contribution ranges to hit synthetic participation targets.
Worker alternative and portability
When staff store for particular person protection, they select plans that match their particular wants. A driver who often 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 alternative creates increased satisfaction with advantages. As an alternative of being assigned a plan which will or could not work for his or her scenario, staff actively choose protection they worth.
Particular person protection can also be transportable. When an worker leaves your organization, their medical insurance would 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 staff, the selection between QSEHRA and ICHRA will depend on your particular wants.
Select QSEHRA if:
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You need the best doable implementation
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The contribution limits ($6,450 single / $13,100 household yearly) are adequate to your market
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You are comfy providing the identical profit to all full-time staff
- You need minimal ongoing administration
Select ICHRA if:
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You need 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 need to regulate for geographic price 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 staff 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 mixture of fast price financial savings, long-term predictability, and administrative simplification makes HRAs a strategic resolution reasonably than only a advantages determination. Evaluating medical insurance for trucking corporations means trying 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 training, reimbursement processing, and regulatory necessities, permitting you to deal with operating your trucking enterprise whereas providing aggressive well being advantages that assist entice and retain high quality drivers.
Conventional trucking firm medical insurance would not have to empty your price range or restrict your progress. HRAs present an answer that offers you predictable prices, administrative simplicity, and the aggressive advantages it’s essential entice and retain staff.
Prepared to realize management over your trucking firm’s medical insurance prices? Speak to a Take Command knowledgeable to discover how ICHRA or QSEHRA can present predictable budgets and aggressive advantages to your drivers and workers.
Incessantly requested questions on HRAs for trucking corporations
Can we nonetheless provide an HRA if we have now drivers in a number of states?
Sure, and that is really one of many greatest 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 sufficient networks throughout all of your working areas. ICHRA even lets you set totally different reimbursement quantities by state to account for geographic price variations.
What occurs to our HRA if we develop past 50 staff?
When you begin with a QSEHRA and develop past 50 staff, you possibly can transition to an ICHRA at your subsequent plan 12 months. ICHRA works the identical approach however removes the contribution caps and lets you create worker lessons with totally different reimbursement quantities. Your HRA administrator may help you make this transition seamlessly.
Do we have now to supply the HRA to all staff, together with part-time drivers?
No. You possibly can select which worker lessons are eligible to your HRA. Many trucking corporations provide HRAs solely to full-time staff, or create separate lessons for part-time staff with totally different (or no) reimbursement quantities. You’ve flexibility to design the profit construction that is smart for your enterprise.
How do reimbursements work for workers who’re on the highway throughout open enrollment?
Take Command offers ongoing help all year long, not simply throughout open enrollment. Drivers can enroll in protection from wherever with web entry, and our staff is obtainable by telephone or e mail to information them by way 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 staff qualify for premium tax credit on the ACA market based mostly on their family revenue, which might considerably scale back their out-of-pocket prices. Take Command helps staff perceive whether or not they’re eligible for these subsidies and the best way to apply them. In some circumstances, the mix of your HRA reimbursement and market subsidies means staff pay little to nothing for protection.