Guides

Group plan vs ICHRA vs QSEHRA, the Form 8941 credit, the owner's own coverage by entity, 1099 contractors and part-timers on the team, what it costs, and renewal season.

• Group plan, ICHRA or QSEHRA: which fits a small business — The three ways a business with 1 to 50 employees offers health coverage, side by side: who can offer each, what it costs the employer, what employees get, and the facts about your team that decide it.
• ICHRA for a small business — How an Individual Coverage HRA works for an employer with 1 to 50 staff: the allowance, employee classes, the 2027 affordability test, who cannot take it, and what it buys in your county.
• QSEHRA for a small business — The Qualified Small Employer HRA: under 50 full-time equivalents, no group plan, a cap of $6,450 single / $13,100 family (2026), reimbursements that reduce the employee's marketplace credit dollar for dollar.
• The small business health care tax credit — Up to 50% of the employer's premium share for two years: fewer than 25 full-time equivalents, average wages under the limit ($67,000 for 2025), a SHOP plan, and a uniform contribution. How the phase-out works and who actually gets it.
• The owner’s own coverage, by entity type — A small business owner's personal coverage follows the tax entity: Schedule C deduction for sole proprietors and disregarded LLCs, Box 1 for S-corp owners, guaranteed payments for partners, and no HRA for any of them.
• 1099 contractors on your team — Only W-2 employees can be covered by a group plan, an ICHRA or a QSEHRA. What a business can and cannot do for its 1099 contractors, the misclassification risk, and where to send them.
• Part-time and seasonal staff — How part-timers and seasonal workers count toward full-time equivalents, the 50-FTE employer mandate line, group plan eligibility at 30 hours, and what to offer the staff a group plan leaves out.
• What small business health insurance costs — Round numbers for 2027: the KFF employer averages, what an employer share looks like, what an ICHRA allowance buys on the individual market in 24 states, and why the county decides more than the state.
• Renewal season for a small business plan — The annual renewal letter is a decision, not a bill: the five checks a small employer makes each autumn, when switching structures makes sense, and the dates that matter for 2027.
• Just the owner, no employees — A one-person business has no group to insure and no one to offer an HRA to. Where the owner buys, the deduction and credit that apply, and when hiring the first employee changes the answer.