Moving your agency's ICHRA work off spreadsheets and onto StretchDollar

If your agency offers ICHRA today by managing it yourself, through spreadsheets, email threads, payroll tweaks and your own reminders, this guide shows how to move that work onto StretchDollar's ICHRA Partner Portal. You keep the client relationship and your revenue. We take on the administration.

What changes when you move off spreadsheets

Step 1: Set up your agency's portal

1. Sign up for the ICHRA Partner Portal and create your Organization Admin account. See How much does StretchDollar cost for agents?
2. Submit your E&O certificate first. Our team reviews your agency once it's in. See Why you need E&O insurance.
3. Choose your Agent of Record (AOR) preference. You can be AOR in all states, in specific states (we cover the rest), or let StretchDollar act as AOR everywhere.
4. Add your enrollment links, one per state where you're AOR. This is how your clients' employees shop under you, so you stay broker of record. See Enrollment links: what they are and how to add them.
5. Invite your agents once your agency is approved. See Who does what in the portal.

Step 2: Quote the employer

Open the quoting tool and work through it:

1. Enter the company information.
2. Add the employee data: upload your census with the CSV template, paste it in, or add employees one at a time. Each quote covers fewer than 50 employees.
3. Add any renewal information.
4. Build the proposal: choose Flat Rate or Smart Rates, the plan tier you want to cover, and how to handle families.
5. Export the quote or send it to the business owner.

Already managing this client's ICHRA in a spreadsheet? Use their current allowances and employee list as your starting point. See How does the quoting tool work? and What plan tiers can I quote?

Step 3: The client sets up their account

When the business owner opens the quote and clicks Finalize Policy, StretchDollar takes it from there:

• Their policy is pre-filled from the finalized quote: allowances, employee classes and start date.
• They create their account, confirm their business details and policy, and add a card for StretchDollar's monthly fee.
• They verify the business with our payment partner, Dwolla, and connect their business bank account.
• The employees from your census are waiting for them to review and invite.

The guided screens and help articles walk the admin through each step, and our team is on hand if they get stuck. See Sent quote vs. finalized quote and What's the onboarding process like for employers?

Step 4: Employees onboard themselves

• Each employee gets an invite to their own Benefits Portal.
• They shop on or off the exchange through your enrollment link for their state, or keep the plan they already have.
• They upload proof of coverage, connect their bank and set up auto-reimbursement for their admin to approve.
• Licensed help is available if they want it.

See How does onboarding work for employees? and Quote link vs. employee invite vs. shopping link.

Step 5: Reimbursements run by ACH

Reimbursements don't go through payroll or cards. Each month StretchDollar moves the money by ACH from the business's bank account to each employee's bank account:

• Approved auto-reimbursements are withdrawn from the business on the 25th and reach employees around the 1st.
• Months before an auto-reimbursement was approved are paid through a one-time reimbursement.

If your client reimburses through payroll or cards today, they need to switch that off themselves so employees aren't paid twice. That means stopping payroll reimbursements, premium deductions or card funding from the day before their StretchDollar start date.

See Do reimbursements run through payroll?, How auto-reimbursement timing works and One-time vs. auto-reimbursement.

Step 6: Compliance is built in

• Plan documents and notices: when the employer builds their policy, StretchDollar creates the Summary Plan Description, the Summary of Benefits and Coverage, and each employee's ICHRA notice.
• Where to find them: employers find these on their Documents page and employees in their Benefits Portal. You can download employee notices from your in-progress view.
• Tax filing data: each year StretchDollar provides the 1095-B data your client needs from their ICHRA enrollment records.

See What tax reporting is required?

Keep your revenue

• As Agent of Record, you keep 100% of your carrier commissions where that's allowed.
• You earn $22 per enrolled employee per month, paid to your agency's bank account, quarterly by default.

See Agent compensation: PEPM payments and ICHRA Partner Portal pricing.

Your first-client checklist

1. Portal set up: E&O submitted, AOR preference chosen and enrollment links added.
2. Census and current allowances pulled from your spreadsheet.
3. Quote built and sent to the business owner.
4. Start date picked: the 1st of a month, after the last month the old process pays.
5. Client finalizes the quote and completes sign-up, Account Setup and Bank Setup.
6. Employees invited. They shop or keep their plan, upload proof and connect their bank.
7. Old payroll or card reimbursements turned off from the start date.

Moving a client from another ICHRA administrator rather than a spreadsheet? See Switching a client's ICHRA from another provider to StretchDollar.

Questions about moving your book over? Ask in the help window or book time with our partner team.