George Dippel, President of Deft Research –

Employers Turn to Their Broker First When Mulling ICHRA But Aren’t Afraid to Turn to Others.

The excitement the industry felt after the then proposed One Big Beautiful Bill was released in May of ‘25 was real, as the OBBB had everything ICHRA insiders had been pining for: codification, incentives for small groups to start providing coverage through ICHRA, and most of all, a better name (CHOICE) that doesn’t sound as unnatural as what you say when someone sneezes (Gesundheit!).

That burst of excitement ended up being short-lived as codification, incentives, and a pronounceable name all fell victim to the sausage-making that happens when one chamber of Congress feels the need to one up the other. A second wet blanket in the form of 27% average benchmark premium increases hit later in the year morphing whatever excitement remained into nervous energy. The promise of ICHRA’s budding future in the spring had turned quickly to dead leaves in the fall by the time premiums came out.

Yet ICHRA grew significantly in 2026 according to the HRA Council. And according to our study, interest, familiarity, and a sense from firms that moving to ICHRA is more of a “when not if” also shows that hope springs eternal (especially as group rates tick up another 10% YoY).

One thing our study shows is that as ICHRA interest grows and employers begin to move from curiosity to consideration, they first turn to their trusted broker for help. As seen below, a majority of firms who moved to ICHRA both in ‘25 and ‘26 had their old group broker facilitate their transition to the ACA. But for about 20% of firms who moved away from group, they also ended up moving away from their old broker and moved toward one more focused on the ACA and ICHRA.

Should the ACA find its footing once again–and should group premiums continue to do what group premiums have been recently doing–ICHRA seems poised to break out (finally). And if/when it does, group brokers need to be prepared to add ICHRA to their bag. If they don’t, their clients appear more than willing to make a broker change.

#Deftresearch recently published its first study dedicated to understanding the business end of the transition to the ACA via ICHRA with its “ICHRA Study Part I: Brokers and Employers” release. For more information, please reach out to your local Deft Research associate.