What does a Section 125 wellness plan cost a home care agency?

There is no setup fee, no agency license fee, and no charge for the proposal or analysis. There is a monthly per-participant administration fee, which is netted against the reduction in employer payroll tax before any figure is quoted. The plan is built to run at zero net cost to the agency.

How much does the employer actually net?

Across proposals run by Home Care Wellness the employer figure has landed between $300 and $900 per participating employee per year, net of the administration fee. UnifyWell's published example nets roughly $640 per participating employee per year on a $44,000 earner. This is a range and not a quote, and it moves with wages, filing status and pay schedule.

How does Home Care Wellness get paid?

UnifyWell pays Home Care Wellness a per-enrolled-employee monthly fee. Home Care Wellness is not paid by the agency and is not paid a percentage of the agency's savings.

When is a Section 125 wellness plan a poor fit?

Very small rosters, where administration overhead does not amortize well. Agencies whose caregivers are mostly 1099 contractors, since a Section 125 election requires W-2 status. Owners seeking a replacement for major medical coverage, which this is not. And anyone wanting a guaranteed savings figure in writing before a payroll review.

Pricing

What does this cost the agency?

It is built to run at zero net cost. That answer sounds like a dodge, so here is the whole structure, including the fee and the parts that are not free.

The direct answer

There is no per-agency license fee, no setup fee, and nothing to buy to find out whether it works for you.

The plan is funded by the reduction in employer payroll tax that happens when employee contributions come out pre-tax. There is a monthly administration fee, and it is netted against that reduction before anyone quotes you a figure.

The proposal shows the employer figure after the administration fee, not before. A number quoted before the fee is not a real number. The mechanics behind that number are in our Section 125 guide for home care agencies.

What the employer figure looks like

Across the proposals Home Care Wellness has run, the employer figure has landed between $300 and $900 per participating employee per year, net of the administration fee.

UnifyWell's own published example nets roughly $640 per participating employee per year on a $44,000 earner. Caregiver wages generally sit below that, which is why the range starts lower.

That is a range, not a quote. It moves with wages, filing status and pay schedule, and not every caregiver qualifies. Anyone who gives you an exact per-employee figure before looking at your payroll is guessing, and that specific behavior is one of the things regulators have objected to in this category.

What you pay	Amount
Setup fee	None
Agency license or subscription	None
Cost of the proposal and analysis	None. Free, no obligation.
Monthly plan administration	A per-participant fee, netted against the payroll tax reduction before any figure is quoted to you.
Net cost to the agency	Built to be zero.

The workers' comp question

You will hear this one from other vendors, so here is our version of it.

Workers' compensation premiums are rated on payroll. When employee contributions come out pre-tax, the wage base drops, and in some states that lower base is what the comp premium is calculated on. Where that is true, the plan reduces your comp premium on top of the payroll tax saving. Where it is not true, it does nothing at all.

Which one applies to you is set by your state's rules and your carrier, not by us and not by UnifyWell. Agencies running this plan in other industries have reported real comp reductions alongside their payroll tax savings. We are not going to attach a percentage to that until your carrier confirms it for your state in writing.

So raise it with your comp carrier before you sign anything. If the answer is yes, it is money on top of the number in your proposal. If the answer is no, nothing else on this page changes.

What it costs you that isn't money

Every honest pricing page should have this section.

Payroll code setup. Your payroll provider or bookkeeper has to add the deduction and reward codes. Payroll specialists work directly with them, but it is an hour or two of somebody's attention.
An enrollment window. UnifyWell runs the caregiver communication and meetings, roughly 95 percent of the work, but your team has to let them at the roster.
Ongoing participation. Caregivers complete a health risk assessment and a monthly wellness activity. That is what makes the structure defensible, and it means the benefit is not passive.
Your CPA's time. We ask you to have the documents reviewed. That is a real cost and it is worth paying.

How we get paid

People ask, and the answer affects how you should read everything else on this site.

UnifyWell pays Home Care Wellness a per-enrolled-employee monthly fee. We are not paid by you, and we are not paid a percentage of your savings. Our incentive is enrollment that lasts, which is the same reason we would rather you pass than sign something your accountant has not read.

If an agency enrolls and the plan does not hold up, we stop getting paid. That is the alignment.

When this is a poor fit

Very small rosters. The administration overhead does not amortize well across a handful of employees.
Agencies where most caregivers are 1099 contractors rather than W-2 employees. A Section 125 election requires W-2 status.
Owners looking for a replacement for major medical coverage. This is not that, and we will say so.
Anyone who wants a guaranteed savings figure in writing before a payroll review. We do not provide one, and you should be wary of anyone who does.

Get your own number

The estimator gives you a directional figure in about thirty seconds. The proposal gives you the real one, free, usually in a day or two.

Open the estimator

Nothing to buy to find out.

Home Care Wellness provides marketing and enrollment support and does not provide legal, tax, accounting or health advice. The Unify Wellness Plan is administered by UnifyWell and ACA Solutions. Savings figures in any proposal are estimates based on the payroll information provided and are not guaranteed. Federal and state tax laws change. Consult your own CPA or attorney before enrolling.