Set the balance rollover behavior

If an employee’s insurance premiumspremiumThe monthly amount paid to maintain health insurance coverage, regardless of whether any services are used that month. are lower than their monthly health budget, the difference remains in their Thatch balance. These funds can be spent throughout the year on eligible health expenses like copays, prescriptions, and exclusive discounts in the Thatch Marketplace.

As the employer, you can decide what happens to any unused Thatch balances at the end of the year. Thatch supports three options: uncapped rollovers, capped rollovers, and use-it-or-lose-it. Each option provides employees different levels of flexibility across plan years, and can impact end-of-year spending behavior.

warning

You must set the balance rollover behavior before sending invites to your employees.

Uncapped rollovers: full balance rolls into the next year

Any unused funds in an employee’s Thatch balance carries into the next plan year. This gives your team the ability to plan for longer-term care and use their Thatch balance when they actually need it.

Employers with rollovers enabled also tend to see a significant decrease in employees rushing to spend down their balance before the end of the year.

For example, take an employee with $300 left in their Thatch balance. At the end of the year, an uncapped rollover works as follows:

When	What happens
December 31, 2026	$300 is left in the employee’s Thatch balance.
January 1, 2027	All $300 rolls over and can be used for 2027 expenses.
March 31, 2027	The last day the employee can use their current Thatch balance, including the rolled over $300, to reimburse eligible health expenses incurred in 2026.

Capped rollovers: roll over up to a set amount

Unused funds roll over up to a fixed dollar amount. Anything above the cap expires on December 31. Employees can still plan for longer-term costs by using available balance under the cap, and that portion does not need to be spent before year-end. The cap limits how much unused balance carries into the next plan year.

For example, take an employee with $300 left in their Thatch balance. A capped rollover set at $200 works as follows:

When	What happens
December 31, 2026	$300 is left in the employee’s Thatch balance.
January 1, 2027	$200 rolls into the next plan year and can be used for 2027 expenses. The remaining $100 stays in 2026.
March 31, 2027	The last day the employee can use their current Thatch balance, including the rolled over $200 and remaining $100, to reimburse eligible health expenses incurred in 2026. After this date, the remaining $100 expires.

Use-it-or-lose-it: remaining funds expire at year-end

Any Thatch balance left at the end of the year expires on December 31. Employees still have until March 31 of the following plan year to receive reimbursements for eligible health expenses incurred in the prior year.

For example, take an employee with $300 left in their Thatch balance. At the end of the year, a use-it-or-lose-it rollover works as follows:

When	What happens
December 31, 2026	The $300 expires.
January 1, 2027	None of the $300 carries into the next plan year.
March 31, 2027	The last day the employee can use their current Thatch balance, including the remaining $300, to reimburse eligible health expenses incurred in 2026. After this date, the remaining $300 expires.