Benefit trend: Employers opt to give workers an allowance for health coverage
CBSN
Dave Lantz is no stranger to emergency department or doctor bills. With three kids in their teens and early 20s, "when someone gets sick or breaks an arm, all of a sudden you have thousand-dollar medical bills," Lantz said.
The family's health plan that he used to get as the assistant director of physical plant at Lycoming College, a small liberal arts school in central Pennsylvania, didn't start to cover their costs until they had paid $5,600 in medical bills. The Lantzes were on the hook up to that annual threshold. The high-deductible plan wasn't ideal for the family of five, but it was the only coverage option available to them.
Things are very different now. In mid-2022, the college ditched its group health plan and replaced it with a new type of plan — an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement, or ICHRA.
