In the United States, it's long been commonplace for employers to offer a single health plan to all employees. Now, some companies are taking advantage of a new tool that offers more flexibility to workers. Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements, or ICHRAs, offer employees a set budget for premiums or health care costs, allowing employees to pick the health care plan that works best for them.

Now, new research from PeopleKeep, a health insurance software company, finds that usage of ICHRAs is on the rise. Moreover, employers who take advantage of ICHRAs offer their employees more funding than is necessary to purchase a self-only gold plan. According to the research, employees received an average allowance of $981 for a single employee in the past year. That figure sits 11% higher than last year's average and is more than twice as much as the $462 currently needed to buy the lowest-cost Marketplace gold standard plan.