Happy Lunar New Year! Pairing ICHRA & TCM

Lunar New Year is this week! It's a big holiday at Venteur 's headquarters in San Francisco, just a few blocks from Chinatown. In this week's ICHRA Insider, we celebrate the lunar new year with a spotlight on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and ICHRA. How do the two intersect?

Personalization = Cultural-Aligned Healthcare?

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) represents centuries of holistic healing wisdom. It offers alternative approaches to wellness that have long been underserved by conventional insurance. ICHRA is changing that narrative, allowing individuals to invest in healthcare that resonates culturally and personally. Let's walk through a few examples.

Breaking Down Barriers to Healthcare Access

We recently took the photo below at a shop in Chinatown just a few blocks from the Venteur offices.?

It says: "Our shop accepts insurance from the Chinese Community Health Plan, Wellcare, and Anthem. Walk into the store, and you'll see rows of herbs and popular TCM remedies you can use your health insurance for. For example, hawthorn berry tea is a popular treatment for lowering blood pressure, hypertension, and triglycerides."*

TCM is becoming mainstream in places like San Francisco, which has a large Chinese community. For example, it's common for health insurance plans to cover acupuncture treatment. The city is also home to CCHP , a non-profit health insurance carrier founded in 1986 to offer culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare services to the Asian and Pacific Islander community. CCHP offers ACA and Medicare plans. That means CCHP is an available health insurance option to any employee offered an ICHRA.

Elsewhere, however, you rarely see this level of integration of TCM into health insurance and mainstream healthcare. Why? Health insurance tends to prioritize evidence-based, scientifically validated treatments. Although TCM is grounded in centuries of cultural practice, its scientific evidence base is catching up. This means that health insurance does not always recognize or reimburse TCM treatments. And despite recent studies from the NIH, Sloan Kettering, and others, skepticism still exists about TCM therapies and the degree to which patients should have autonomy in treatment choices.?

If you're an employer, how do you evaluate whether to cover TCM in your company's health plan? ICHRA provides a straightforward solution: let your employees make the decision.

TCM and the ICHRA Health Wallet?

Here's where ICHRA comes into the picture: the ICHRA Health Wallet provides employers a flexible mechanism to reimburse employees for TCM treatments that meet IRS Section 213(d) medical expense criteria. Eligible TCM services may include:

• Acupuncture: A time-honored practice for pain management, stress relief, and holistic healing
• Herbal Consultations: Professional consultations with licensed TCM practitioners
• Cupping Therapy: A technique used for muscle relaxation and pain relief
• Tui Na Massage: Therapeutic massage addressing specific health concerns
• Herbal Medicines: Prescribed by licensed practitioners
• Diagnostic Consultations: Assessments by qualified TCM professionals

The ICHRA Health Wallet allows employees to access healthcare while receiving tax-advantaged reimbursement.?

And what if employees don't want to partake in these services? They can use their Health Wallet to access services that resonate with them.

While we've focused this week on TCM, the opportunities for personalization are endless, and we're excited about the future of personalized health insurance.

Until next week!

*This statement is not an endorsement or recommendation. Please consult a medical professional before engaging in a new healthcare regimen.