Enter a base allowance and your employees' ages. The planner scales the allowance for each age with the CMS federal default age curve, keeps the oldest at no more than three times the youngest, and totals the monthly and annual cost. The formula is shown below the result.
Enter at least one employee age to see the result.
The table lists each age in your list once, with the allowance every employee of that age receives.
factor(a) ÷ factor(21), rounded to the cent, where factor(21) = 1.000. Then the highest allowance is limited to 3 × lowest allowance. Average = total monthly allowance ÷ number of employees. Annual = monthly × 12.
The result above is complete. The email adds the same table with your inputs, the CMS factors for ages 15 to 64, and a worksheet for the per-employee affordability check. No spam, no vendor pitches, unsubscribe in one click.
Not sure ICHRA is the right structure? Run the two-minute fit check.
The federal ICHRA rule, 26 CFR 54.9802-4, sets no dollar minimum or maximum for the allowance. It requires the same amount for everyone in a class, with variation allowed only by age and by number of covered dependents. Most employers start from a budget, scale it by age, then test each employee against the 9.96% affordability threshold that applies for 2026.
Two limits do the work. The structure limit is in the ICHRA rule: same terms within a class, and a 3 to 1 ceiling on age variation. The money limit is affordability: an allowance too low for an employee's local silver plan lets that employee claim a premium tax credit instead. This planner covers the first limit. The affordability calculator covers the second.
Within a class, the allowance for the oldest participants may not be more than three times the allowance for the youngest participants, and every participant of the same age must receive the same amount. The text is in 26 CFR 54.9802-4(c)(3)(iii)(B). The rule also lets the plan sponsor measure age by any reasonable method, as long as the method is the same for the whole class and fixed before the plan year.
The rule's own example shows the limit. An employer that offers $1,000 to ages 25 to 35 and $4,000 to employees over 55 fails, because $4,000 is more than three times $1,000. Dependents work the same way: the amount tied to each added dependent must be the same for everyone in the class with that number of dependents.
The planner uses the CMS federal default standard age curve, Appendix I of CMS guidance dated 16 December 2016. It gives a factor of 0.970 at age 20, 1.000 at ages 21 to 24, 1.444 at age 45, 2.040 at age 53 and 3.000 at age 64 and older. A 45-year-old therefore receives 1.444 times the 21-year-old's amount, which is $433.20 on a $300 base.
CMS publishes this curve for individual and small group premiums, and it applies in any state that has not set its own. The ICHRA rule does not require any particular curve, so an employer may use another reasonable schedule as long as the 3x ceiling and the same-age rule hold.
Ages 15 to 20 carry factors from 0.833 to 0.970 on the CMS curve, so a younger employee pulls the lowest allowance down. The 3x ceiling is measured from the lowest allowance actually paid, not from the age 21 base. With an 18-year-old at 0.913, the highest allowance cannot exceed 3 × 0.913 = 2.739 times the base, so the oldest ages are held below the full 3.000 factor and the table marks them as capped.
Sources
InsureICHRA designs and runs Individual Coverage HRAs for employers anywhere in the United States. We are not a law firm, an accounting firm or an insurance carrier, and nothing here is legal or tax advice. We are paid when an employer we advise puts an ICHRA in place and their people enroll through our licensed agent partners. This planner is for estimation only. It does not look up premiums or test affordability.
Talk to a licensed agent
Bring your numbers from this page. The call is to work out whether an ICHRA fits your headcount, not to put you on a plan.
InsureICHRA designs and runs the arrangement. Enrolling an employee in an individual health plan is handled by licensed agents, and InsureICHRA is not an insurance agency, an insurance carrier or a licensed producer. Calls to this number reach a licensed agent. Nothing on this page is an offer of coverage or a recommendation of any plan or carrier. Plan availability, benefits and premiums vary by state, by carrier and by the employee's rating area. We are paid when an employer we advise puts an ICHRA in place and their people enroll through our licensed agent partners.