Benefit trend: Employers opt to give workers an allowance for health coverage [Video]

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.

Now Lantz gets a set amount from …