What is an HRA?
A Health Reimbursement Arrangement, or HRA, is an employer-funded benefit that reimburses employees for eligible healthcare expenses.
Unlike an insurance plan, an HRA gives employers the flexibility to decide how much to make available, which expenses the plan will reimburse and how the benefit works alongside their existing coverage. The result is a benefit built around the needs of your organization rather than pulled off the shelf.
How an HRA works
1
You design the benefit
You determine the reimbursement amount, who is eligible and which expenses the plan will cover. An HRA can be broad, or focused on a specific need like deductibles, dental and vision, fertility care or retiree healthcare.
2
Employees use the benefit
Depending on the design, employees pay with the Marin Benefits Debit Mastercard or pay out of pocket and submit a claim. Not every plan needs a card, and we help you decide which approach fits.
3
We handle the administration
We apply the rules of your plan, process claims and card transactions, request documentation when it is needed and support your employees directly. Many transactions verify automatically.
4
You pay as the benefit is used
HRAs generally do not require you to set the full amount aside in advance. Reimbursements are funded as eligible expenses come in, and unused employer dollars remain with the organization.
See how an HRA works
A short walkthrough of how the benefit is funded, how employees use it and what we handle behind the scenes.
Why employers use HRAs
More control over benefit design
You determine where the benefit dollars go, instead of simply buying a richer insurance plan for everyone.
Predictable benefit limits
You set the reimbursement amount in advance, which gives you a defined maximum benefit per employee or family.
Pay only when the benefit is used
If an employee does not incur an eligible expense, there is nothing to reimburse.
Fill the gaps that matter
Help with a high deductible, reduce out-of-pocket costs, or add targeted support where the underlying plan falls short.
Tax-advantaged for employees
Qualified medical expenses can generally be reimbursed tax-free when the plan is structured and administered correctly, so a benefit dollar goes further than a salary dollar.
A team that knows the details
Plan design, documents, claims, card administration and member support come from the same people, not four different vendors.
What can an HRA cover?
There are two parts to this question. Federal rules establish which expenses can qualify as medical care. Your plan then determines which of those expenses it will actually reimburse.
That distinction is where the flexibility lives. A plan does not have to reimburse every expense that could qualify, and most do not. Many of the plans we administer reimburse only what the group medical plan already covers. Others are built around a single category.
Common HRA designs may cover:
Deductibles, copays and coinsurance
Expenses covered by the group health plan
Dental and vision care
Prescription expenses
Behavioral and mental healthcare
Fertility treatment
Retiree healthcare and eligible premiums
Individual coverage, in place of a group plan
An HRA can also be built around a single purpose rather than general medical expenses. Limited-purpose dental and vision plans work that way, and so do standalone GLP-1 HRAs, which add targeted support for eligible GLP-1 medications without changing the underlying medical plan.
Your plan can be broad or highly targeted, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Explore our services
HRA, HSA and FSA: what is the difference?
These three get mixed up constantly. The difference comes down to who funds the benefit and what happens to what is not used.
HRA
HSA
Health FSA
Who funds it?
Employer
Employer and/or employee
Employer and/or employee
Who owns the funds?
Employer-sponsored benefit
The employee
Employer-sponsored benefit
What happens to unused amounts?
Determined by the HRA plan
Remain with the employee
Subject to the plan's forfeiture, carryover or grace period rules
Special health plan requirement?
Depends on the type of HRA
Requires HSA-eligible health coverage
Generally no HDHP requirement
Administered by Marin Benefits?
Yes
No
No
We specialize in HRAs and related employer-funded reimbursement programs. That focus is intentional. It lets our team bring deeper experience to plan design, benefit card administration and the specialized programs our clients ask us to build.
More than traditional HRAs
Not every employer-funded reimbursement benefit fits neatly inside a traditional HRA.
We also administer family formation benefits and other specialized reimbursement programs that can include both tax-advantaged and taxable reimbursements, in the United States and abroad. The administration is different behind the scenes, but the goal is the same: give employers flexibility while keeping the experience straightforward for employees.
Built around your organization
There is no reason every employer's HRA should look the same.
We start with your existing coverage, your workforce and what you are trying to solve. From there we work with you and your broker or advisor to build a benefit that fits. Our team stays involved from plan design and implementation through enrollment, claims, card administration and ongoing member support.