We often get asked a version of the same question:
What is the right ICHRA allowance to offer employees?
Employers want to help, but they also want context. They want to know how similar companies structure their ICHRAs and how much they typically make available. To make that decision easier, we looked at all the ICHRAs on the Salusion platform and summarized our findings in a way that is easy to benchmark.
How Employers Set ICHRA Allowances
At Salusion, employers have two ways to set the benefit. They can set the allowance themselves, or they can let Salusion calculate it for them. Today, almost all of the ICHRAs on our platform are employer-set.
When Employers Set the Allowance Themselves
Within the employer-set group, the most common approach is a single allowance for all employees. After that, the market is split almost evenly between designs that vary by family size and designs that vary by family size and age.
Same Amount for All Employees
The most common setup gives every eligible employee the same allowance, regardless of age or family status. That simplicity makes the plan easier to explain, budget, and administer. The average allowance under this set up is approximately $700 with wide range between the 25th percentile ($300) and the 75th percentile ($900).
Varies by Family Size
On our platform, family-size ICHRAs are built with three inputs: Self, First Dependent, and Each Additional Dependent. Employers can use those inputs in two distinct ways.
A self / family design sets a self amount, adds a first-dependent amount, and sets Each Additional Dependent to $0, so anyone with one or more dependents lands on the same family allowance. A true family-size design assigns a non-zero amount to Each Additional Dependent, so the allowance steps up as more dependents are added.
Self / Family
A little over half of family-size-only ICHRAs are two-tier designs. The average self allowance is $560 per month, and the average first-dependent amount is $474.
Actually Varies by Family Size
A little under half of family-size-only ICHRAs truly scale by dependent count. The average self allowance is $560 per month, and the average first-dependent amount is $474, and the average allowance for each additional dependent is $334.
When Salusion Calculates the Allowance
Only 2.1% of invited employees are currently in a Salusion-calculated ICHRA. That small share is mostly a function of timing. These features are new, and we think they are more thoughtful than their current adoption would suggest.
There are two ways Salusion can calculate the allowance. The first benchmarks the benefit to a percentage of a Bronze, Silver, or Gold plan. The second is a low-cost ACA-compliant ICHRA designed for larger employers that want to satisfy ACA affordability requirements while keeping the benefit lean.
Benchmarking to Bronze, Silver, or Gold
With this approach, Salusion looks at the employee’s ZIP code and age, estimates the local individual-market premium for the selected metal tier, and then makes a chosen percentage of that premium available as the allowance. That makes the benefit more local, more age-aware, and easier to calibrate than a flat national number.
Low-Cost, ACA-Compliant ICHRA
This option exists for employers that want to satisfy ACA affordability rules while still keeping the ICHRA as lean as possible. In practice, Salusion solves for the minimum self-only allowance needed to make the offer affordable under the applicable safe harbor. That makes it especially relevant for larger employers focused on ACA compliance.
Because this feature is newer and still a small part of the data, the current export is better suited to explaining how it works than to publishing a benchmark table for it.
Bottom Line
Most ICHRAs on the Salusion platform still use employer-set allowances. Inside that group, the market is split between flat allowances and more tailored family-based designs, with family-size-and-age setups accounting for another meaningful share of the mix.
The newer Salusion-calculated methods are still early, but they point toward a more dynamic way to set benefits—either by benchmarking to local Bronze, Silver, or Gold premiums or by solving for a low-cost ACA-compliant allowance.
Method note: The allowance benchmark tables exclude the top 5% of plans within each relevant design to reduce distortion from wealthy, owner-centric ICHRAs.
