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Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, discusses CHOICE Arrangements during a press conference after meeting with local business leaders at Arena Hall in Austin on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Dr.\u00a0Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, met with local business leaders in Austin to pitch an alternative to traditional employer-sponsored health insurance.<\/p>\n
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The Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense Arrangement, also known as a CHOICE Arrangement, allows employers to give employees tax-free money to buy their own health insurance. Employees can buy coverage\u00a0through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace or work with an insurance broker to compare off-Marketplace plans available where they live.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, discusses CHOICE Arrangements during a press conference after meeting with local business leaders at Arena Hall in Austin on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
The approach has been around for years. It was previously called the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement under the first Trump administration. About 500,000 people have a CHOICE arrangement or similar plan this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“COVID-19 put a stop on this, and a lack of interest in these programs, the prior administration chilled the waters,” Oz said Wednesday at Arena Hall in Austin. “We’re heating those waters up again.”<\/p>\n
Peter Nelson, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight at CMS, said CHOICE could help employers meet their needs while expanding the number of people who have health insurance.\u00a0In five years, he expects as many as 20 million people in the U.S. will have health insurance through a CHOICE arrangement. “It just makes a lot of sense,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Could CHOICE lower the cost of insurance?<\/p>\n
Insurance rates depend partly on the number of people in a plan and their health.\u00a0A large risk pool that includes healthy people can help offset the costs of covering people who need more care. Employer-based plans are typically financed and owned\u00a0by the business, which takes on the risk\u00a0when it creates a group plan for employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Texas, that can be a challenge: The state has the highest share\u00a0of uninsured people in the country.\u00a0A KFF report released <\/a>this summer found that 19.2% of people under age 65 did not have health insurance, including 13.7% of children.<\/p>\n This year, the number of people enrolled in the federal Affordable Care Act Marketplace in Texas fell by 4%<\/a> from 2025. The average premiums for Marketplace plans in Texas increased by an average of 35% in 2026 and are expected to increase another 13.1% on average in 2027.<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n