Indianapolis – September 23, 2026 -- eHealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: EHTH) has partnered with benefits administration platform BerniePortal to connect more than 5,000 employers and over 1,000 insurance brokers to individual health coverage options under the newly renamed Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense Arrangements, or CHOICE.
CMS renamed ICHRA to CHOICE arrangements as of September 3, 2026
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officially rebranded Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements as CHOICE arrangements earlier this month, a shift now embedded in the eHealth-BerniePortal distribution model. Under CHOICE, employers provide employees a defined contribution toward individual health coverage rather than a traditional group plan, shifting cost predictability and plan selection to the employee level.
Partnership taps eHealth's licensed agents to service BerniePortal's broker network
eHealth's licensed insurance agents will provide needs analysis, plan shopping, and enrollment support directly to employees whose employers use BerniePortal's benefits administration platform. Brokers retain agent-of-record status and existing client relationships while gaining administrative tools to manage CHOICE Arrangements, including contribution structuring across employee classes and real-time visibility into enrollment and participation rates.
eHealth cites average savings of approximately 17% versus traditional group plans
Based on an eHealth analysis of third-party rate data in Ohio, Minnesota, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida, individual health plan rates under CHOICE Arrangements ran roughly 17% lower than comparable traditional group plan rates. Employees gain access to hundreds of ACA-compliant plans through the arrangement, with eHealth providing onboarding, shopping and enrollment education for both employers and employees.
"Health benefit costs are one of the biggest pressures employers face today, and CHOICE Arrangements can give them a way to offer meaningful coverage while helping reduce the cost unpredictability associated with a traditional group plan," said Derrick Duke, CEO of eHealth.
Alex Tolbert, President of BerniePortal, said brokers have sought a way to offer employees real coverage choice without added administrative burden, positioning the partnership to pair eHealth's individual marketplace capabilities with BerniePortal's platform for running CHOICE Arrangements.