Every broker has the same quiet worry about ICHRA: "Does this cut me out?" The honest answer is no — but the compensation model changes, and the brokers who understand it early are the ones protecting their renewals while everyone else defends another double-digit increase.
+34%
YoY ICHRA adoption among large employers (2025)
+52%
Small-employer ICHRA adoption growth (2025)
450k+
Employees offered an HRA for 2025
Why this matters now
Adoption is accelerating across every employer size — up 34% year over year among large employers and 52% among small employers in the HRA Council's 2025 data. Your clients are going to hear about ICHRA whether or not it comes from you. The renewal where you introduce it is a very different conversation than the one where a competitor does.
The commission question, answered
With a group plan, you're typically paid a percentage override baked into premium. With ICHRA, that shifts — but it doesn't disappear:
- Per-employee-per-month (PEPM) or consulting fees replace the group override, and they're transparent and recurring.
- Individual-market commissions may still be available on the plans employees choose, depending on carrier and state.
- You keep the relationship — the advisory role, the renewal, the expansion as the client grows.
The book-protection angleGroup renewals are where you're most exposed — a 15% increase is an open invitation for the client to shop you. An ICHRA caps the client's cost and removes the annual sticker shock, which removes the reason to put your book out to bid.
How to introduce it (the 3-step play)
- 1. Lead with the renewal. When the group increase lands, frame ICHRA as the alternative to absorbing it — "same budget, capped, with more choice for your people."
- 2. Show the number. Run their census through the savings calculator and put a real dollar figure on the table. Numbers move CFOs.
- 3. Bring in Choice as your back office. We handle plan design, enrollment, reimbursements, affordability testing, and reporting — you stay the trusted advisor out front.
What Choice does for you
- White-glove administration so you're never the help desk for reimbursements or documents.
- Affordability testing and ACA / ERISA / HIPAA reporting handled and filed.
- Embedded Direct Primary Care in every plan — a differentiator you can sell that group plans can't match.
- Co-branded proposals and a broker portal so the client experience feels like yours.
Grab the broker field guide to bring to your next renewal, or start a partnership conversation.