StretchDollar, a health benefits company, has raised $6 million in funding to support small businesses, the company announced Tuesday.

健康福利公司StretchDollar周二宣布，已筹集600万美元资金支持小企业。

San Francisco-based StretchDollar offers an ICHRA-focused model (Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements), which allows employers to provide their employees pre-tax funding so they can buy individual insurance plans. Through StretchDollar’s platform, small businesses can fill in basic info and pick a monthly pre-tax allowance.

总部位于旧金山的StretchDollar提供了一个以ICHRA为重点的模式（个人保险健康报销安排），该模式允许雇主为员工提供税前资金，以便他们可以购买个人保险计划。通过StretchDollar的平台，小企业可以填写基本信息并选择每月的税前津贴。

They can then invite their employees to join the platform, and the pre-tax dollars are sent monthly from the business’ bank account to the employees..

然后，他们可以邀请员工加入该平台，税前美元每月从企业的银行账户发送给员工。。

“A traditional small group health plan often takes 100+ hours to set up and requires minimum employee participation of 50% or more along with other strict requirements,” said Marshall Darr, co-founder and CEO of StretchDollar, in an email. “This process also involves a business owner effectively deciding which hospitals their employees can use, which providers they can see, and even what medications the employees are going to have access to.

StretchDollar联合创始人兼首席执行官马歇尔·达尔（MarshallDarr）在一封电子邮件中表示：“传统的小团体健康计划通常需要100多个小时才能建立，并且要求员工最低参与率达到50%或以上，并有其他严格要求。”。“这个过程还涉及到企业主有效地决定员工可以使用哪些医院，可以看到哪些提供者，甚至可以决定员工可以使用哪些药物。

It’s a lot to ask of a small business owner. We’ve built a platform designed to simplify everything, while finally giving employees choice.”.

对一个小企业主来说，这是一件很难的事。我们建立了一个平台，旨在简化一切，同时最终为员工提供选择。”。

Health IT

健康IT

Reducing Clinical and Staff Burnout with AI Automation

利用人工智能自动化减少临床和员工的职业倦怠

As technology advances, AI-powered tools will increasingly reduce the administrative burdens on healthcare providers.

随着技术的进步，人工智能工具将越来越多地减轻医疗保健提供者的管理负担。

By Dr. Michael Blackman, Chief Medical Officer at Greenway Health

由Dr。Greenway Health首席医疗官迈克尔·布莱克曼

The seed funding was led by Fika Ventures and Oscar Health and included participation from Precursor Ventures and Springbank. It follows a $1.8 million pre-seed round from last fall.

种子基金由Fika Ventures和Oscar Health牵头，包括Presor Ventures和Springbank的参与。此前，去年秋季进行了一轮180万美元的种子前投资。

“Fika Ventures is thrilled to back StretchDollar’s mission to democratize healthcare access for small businesses through their innovative ICHRA platform that transforms a painful 100+ hour process into a 10-minute setup,” said Tianxiang (TX) Zhuo, general partner with Fika Ventures, in a statement.

Fika Ventures的普通合伙人朱天祥（Tianxiang）在一份声明中表示：“Fika Ventures很高兴支持StretchDollar的使命，通过其创新的ICHRA平台，将100多个小时的痛苦过程转变为10分钟的设置，使小企业的医疗保健服务民主化。”。

With the funding, StretchDollar will expand its self-service platform, according to the announcement.

公告称，有了这笔资金，StretchDollar将扩展其自助服务平台。

In the U.S., there are 5 million businesses with fewer than 10 employees, according to Darr. In 2010, 60% of these businesses provided health benefits to their employees, but by 2023, that figure dropped to 40%. This decrease isn’t because small businesses don’t want to provide health benefits, but because managing health benefits is complicated, Darr said..

据Darr称，美国有500万家企业，员工不到10人。2010年，这些企业中有60%为员工提供健康福利，但到2023年，这一数字降至40%。Darr说，这并不是因为小企业不想提供健康福利，而是因为管理健康福利很复杂。。

Sponsored Post

赞助帖子

The Funding Model for Cancer Innovation is Broken — We Can Fix It

癌症创新的资助模式被打破了-我们可以修复它

Closing cancer health equity gaps require medical breakthroughs made possible by new funding approaches.

缩小癌症健康公平差距需要通过新的资助方法实现医学突破。

By Eve McDavid - CEO of Mission-Driven Tech

作者Eve McDavid，任务驱动技术公司首席执行官

In response, the ICHRA space has been picking up steam. According to the HRA Council, ICHRA adoption increased by 29% between 2023 and 2024. And StretchDollar isn’t the only company supporting this trend: other companies that help employers administer ICHRAs include Gravie and Take Command. Oscar Health has also been a major advocate for ICHRAs..

作为回应，ICHRA太空正在加速发展。根据HRA委员会的数据，2023年至2024年间，ICHRA的采用率增加了29%。StretchDollar并不是唯一支持这一趋势的公司：其他帮助雇主管理Ichra的公司包括Gravie And Take Command。奥斯卡健康奖（OscarHealth）也是ICHRAs的主要倡导者。。

“The ICHRA space has received a lot of attention lately due in large part to a substantial development we’re seeing in the market,” Darr said. “Health insurance carriers are pulling out of the small group market leaving small businesses with few options. Humana and Cigna have all removed their small group offering entirely.

Darr说：“由于我们在市场上看到了实质性的发展，ICHRA空间最近受到了很多关注。”。“健康保险公司正在退出小团体市场，让小企业别无选择。Humana和Cigna都已完全取消了他们的小团体服务。

Other carriers, like UnitedHealth and Aetna, have scaled them back substantially. In its place, companies like Oscar and Centene, are pivoting to the marketplace and expanding their individual health insurance options.”.

其他运营商，如联合健康保险（UnitedHealth）和安泰保险（Aetna），已经大幅缩减了规模。取而代之的是，像奥斯卡和Centene这样的公司正转向市场，扩大他们的个人健康保险选择。”。

Darr added that looking ahead, StretchDollar hopes to take on other areas in the health benefits space that small businesses have traditionally struggled to offer, such as vision, dental, retirement, life and disability benefits.

Darr补充说，展望未来，StretchDollar希望在健康福利领域中承担小企业传统上难以提供的其他领域，如视力、牙科、退休、生活和残疾福利。

Photo: sorbetto, Getty Images

照片：索贝托，盖蒂图片

Topics

主题

ICHRA

伊卡拉

seed funding

种子基金

StretchDollar

StretchDollar

MedCity News Daily Newsletter

MedCity新闻每日通讯

Sign up and get the latest news in your inbox.

注册并在收件箱中获取最新消息。

Enter your email address

输入您的电子邮件地址

Subscribe Now

立即订阅

We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.

未经您同意，我们绝不出售或共享您的信息。请参阅我们的隐私政策。

More from MedCity News

更多来自MedCity新闻

A Healthcare System’s Moral Bankruptcy Goes Viral

医疗保健系统的道德破产蔓延开来

Nuvig Therapeutics Nabs $161M to Build Case for a Better Approach to Autoimmune Disease

Nuvig Therapeutics斥资1.61亿美元，为更好地治疗自身免疫性疾病奠定基础

How the Right AI Can Improve Health Risk Assessments

正确的人工智能如何改进健康风险评估

Dr. Oz at Medicare: Why America’s 53 Million Family Caregivers May Finally Get Their Due

医疗保险公司的奥兹医生：为什么美国5300万家庭护理人员最终会得到应有的待遇