There are 5 million businesses in the US with fewer than 10 employees. In 2010, 60% of these businesses offered health benefits to their employees. That number in 2022 shrunk to 40%.
I don’t believe that’s because employers value their people less today than they did 15 years ago. Rather, it’s simply too expensive and complicated to provide them access to the care and coverage they deserve.
StretchDollar is on a mission to change that.
On our platform small business owners can provide pre-tax funding to their employees to help cover the cost of health insurance plans their employees select and own.
Our brokers help each individual pick the best possible plan and we don’t have any minimum participation or contribution requirements.
As of February 15th, we are eliminating any and all additional fees that a small business would have to pay to do this. Every dollar sent through StretchDollar lands in your employee’s bank account, tax free.
Now the natural question that follows is:
Wait, but how do you make money?
On top of being a third-party administrator (that's the legal foundation that allows tax-free fund transfers), we also are a health insurance brokerage. This allows us to help match employees to health plans that best suit their needs.
When we do that well, we receive a commission on the policies sold. It's important to note that using a brokerage does not impact the premiums charged by health insurance carriers so employees we help will not experience any additional costs.
Since that's the crux of our business model - tacking on a monthly platform fee only adds needless complexity and becomes a hassle for the small business community we're here to help.
Who is this for?
Now unfortunately, we’re still not a fit for everyone. That’s by design. Over the last 10 years I’ve spent in the benefit space, it’s become very apparent that small businesses, especially those with under 20 employees, don’t have a ton of options when it comes to how to approach their health insurance. Group plans are complicated and expensive, they don’t have the HR staff to navigate the transition, budgets are tight, and carriers are busy designing nifty options for larger clients.
We want to change that. First, we set out to streamline the creation of an ICHRA group policy, removing unnecessary (and costly) customizations, and choosing the kind of options that most small business owners want.
By eliminating all fees to run a policy with StretchDollar, we’ve gone one step further — and what we feel like is a no-brainer starting point for any small business considering offering a health benefit.
How does it work? And where do I start?
Simply decide how much you can comfortably make available each month to your employees, and we’ll handle the rest. Your people can take that money and find plans that work for them.
Think of us as a short cut away from here:
So,if you’re a small business owner reading this and you’re interested in offering health benefits through StretchDollar — it’s easy. Simply go to StretchDollar.com and click “Get Started.” You can either kick off your own policy within 10 minutes in our application or request to sit down with someone from our team.
The only thing it’ll cost you is an absence of headaches. Let’s make health benefits the easiest thing you do today.
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