Abra Help

Contributions

Items marked Coming soon are being rolled out and will be available soon. See What's new for 2027.

In Abra, the ICHRA allowance works like an employer contribution to a group plan: it's what the employer pays toward each employee's premium. Set it on the ICHRA section, under Contributions or Contribution designs (by plan year). Group plans have their own contributions, set as a step when you set up each plan.

Setting up a contribution

  1. Choose how the employer contributes (enter amounts as monthly figures):
    • a percent of the plan's premium, with an optional monthly maximum;
    • a flat dollar amount per month;
    • a percent of a reference plan, such as a benchmark Silver plan.
  2. Set amounts by tier (employee, spouse, children, family). Turn on Contributions different by Location/Class? to vary them.
  3. Add an additional contribution if the employer adds a fixed amount on top.

Designs by plan year Coming soon

Contribution designs are kept by plan year, so 2027 changes never touch 2026.

A design is set up for one group and plan year. It has classes and rules, with flat, percentage or age-based amounts and add-ons for each dependant. Abra checks the 3:1 age-ratio limit and that rules don't overlap, and asks you to choose the date ages are worked out on. Classes copied from the group's current setup are marked Needs review. When you finalize the design, each employee's amount is fixed. Someone who joins after that is shown as pending until their amount is set.

Two rules to know

Every maximum is monthly Coming soon

"50% of the plan, up to $200" means at most $200 a month, whether employees are paid weekly, every two weeks or monthly.

The ICHRA additional contribution comes from the employer Coming soon

For ICHRA, the additional contribution always comes from the employer. It's added to the employer's share and taken off what the employee pays. Group plans keep their current rule.

The employer never pays more than the premium Coming soon

If the employer's amount is more than the plan's premium, Abra caps it at the premium, so the employee's share is never below zero. Employees see "Your employer covers the full premium". The same capped amount is used for pricing, saved elections, reports and payroll.

When a price is missing Coming soon

Abra no longer treats a plan it couldn't price as $0:

  • A plan that isn't priced for everyone in the household is left out of the employee's list instead of showing at $0.
  • If the employer's benchmark plan can't be priced where the employee lives, the employee sees a message instead of a $0 allowance: their allowance can't be worked out right now, so they should try again later or contact their HR administrator.
  • An employee can't save a plan that hasn't been priced for them. A plan the employer pays for in full is fine.

What employees see

A card on their home page and plan pages, for example: "Your employer pays 80% of the premium, up to $700/month." Each plan shows the premium, the employer's amount and what the employee pays. Payroll amounts and banking use the same employer amount. See What your employees see.