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Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

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Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#81

Post by sn »

https://www.takecommandhealth.com/ is an existing option for an ICHRA or QSEHRA. I am not clear what savvy is offering that isn't offered by them.

A professional employment organization (PEO) is required to get group rates for health insurance as a small business. PEO's handle more than just health insurance; they can also handle 401k's, disability insurance and remove the need to register as a foreign corporation in each state that your employees live in. If anyone has recommendations here I would love to hear them.

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#82

Post by kevc »

jedberg wrote: post #76

I can't tell from the website, but can I offer different amounts to different employees? For example, can I offer $2000/mo to someone with three dependents and $500/mo to a single person? ie, $500 per family member.

Yes, you can do exactly as you describe. I'll make that more clear on our website.

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#83

Post by eganist »

dang wrote: post #54
eganist wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An argument can be made that the model shouldn't exist in the first place, and part of our comments here are to see if we can steer the founding team towards an alternative that extracts value from a different target, in this case the insurance companies rather than individuals or SBs. In a perfect world, YC wouldn't be hedging in favor of a deteriorating healthcare system in the US by betting on this concept, but th…

If you mean the subthread at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22527801 , that's indeed much better.

Appreciate you.

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#85

Post by kevc »

sn wrote: post #81

https://www.takecommandhealth.com/ is an existing option for an ICHRA or QSEHRA. I am not clear what savvy is offering that isn't offered by them. A professional employment organization (PEO) is required to get group rates for health insurance as a small business. PEO's handle more than just health insurance; they can also handle 401k's, disability insurance and remove the need to register as a foreign corporation in…

Association health plans are a way to group small businesses together for large group pricing, without using a PEO.

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/association-health-plans

We think other companies offering ICHRA services are a good thing. It's a new option that can help a lot of people, and more vendors will spread the word faster. Savvy works a little differently than the existing solutions.

Instead of a reimbursement-based approach, where employees pay insurance premiums themselves and submit them for reimbursement (like a business expense), we manage the payments for employees. This means the insurance bill is paid by the employer and any extra employee contribution is deducted from payroll. We do it this way so that the employee contribution is also tax-free.

We are also investing heavily in helping employees find the right plan. Behind the scenes our brokers are recommending plans for every employee, and we are building out tools that help employees do things like find a plan with a specific doctor or hospital in network.

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#86

Post by tyre »

dv_dt wrote: post #55
kevc wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you envision is the best way to do this? Our approach is to present employees with a few options upfront that, behind the scenes, have been recommended by a broker for them. They can speak with their broker if want help understanding and selecting one of the recommended plans, or look at the wider market if nothing suits them. We try to streamline the experience as much as possible, and put in a lot of work b…

Having been a small business owner who has had to shop, I would have loved the "CostCo" quality model applied. I know that would be really difficult for a startup with the state of our healthcare, but to me it would mean getting in the largest insurance pool possible with above average customer friendly choices making it easy to say yes. That also implies a very few options to chose from, and maybe ideally one (that…

Are you describing HMOs? You have fewer available plans in exchange for cost savings with a large pool.

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#87

Post by SkyPuncher »

tyingq wrote: post #67

The health plan rates available to individuals cost quite a bit more than ones negotiated by a big company or consortium of smaller companies. When I last had to do my own insurance, it was $2200/month for a high end, lowish deductible plan that covered my family. Choice is nice, but the costs are so high now that I'd rather have the lower negotiated rates with less choices.

My experience has been the rates are within 20% of each other.

What does that $2.2k number compare to?

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#88

Post by sn »

kevc wrote: post #85
sn wrote: post #81

https://www.takecommandhealth.com/ is an existing option for an ICHRA or QSEHRA. I am not clear what savvy is offering that isn't offered by them. A professional employment organization (PEO) is required to get group rates for health insurance as a small business. PEO's handle more than just health insurance; they can also handle 401k's, disability insurance and remove the need to register as a foreign corporation in…

Association health plans are a way to group small businesses together for large group pricing, without using a PEO. https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/association-health-plans We think other companies offering ICHRA services are a good thing. It's a new option that can help a lot of people, and more vendors will spread the word faster. Savvy works a little differently than the existing solutions. Instead of a reimburs…

I saw that it's legally possible to form an association health plan. I don't think there are very many of them, or if there are, they are not public organizations.

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#89

Post by sn »

Jommi wrote: post #84

How does this compare in cost to startups using justworks that has better negotiating power for cost savings in the insurance even with low amount of employees?

justworks is a PEO and their PEO certification is currently suspended. https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/cpeo-public-listings https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/suspended-cpeos.pdf

Re: Launch HN: Savvy (YC W20) – Give employees tax-free cash for health insurance

#90

Post by jedberg »

kevc wrote: post #82
jedberg wrote: post #76

I can't tell from the website, but can I offer different amounts to different employees? For example, can I offer $2000/mo to someone with three dependents and $500/mo to a single person? ie, $500 per family member.

Yes, you can do exactly as you describe. I'll make that more clear on our website.

Ok cool! So I went through the signup flow and got to the last step that creates the docs and charges me a $100 setup fee, but I'm still not clear on how the program works.

Will this be deducted from their paycheck or from my account? Where will that money come from if I deduct from their check? Do you integrate with Gusto?

I'm just not at all clear on the logistics of how the money moves from my company to their health insurance company and what the steps in between are, especially since they already have post-tax personal health plans.

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