Thatch vs SureCo

Company Overview

SureCo

• What they are: Enterprise-focused ICHRA platform targeting employers with 200+ employees

• Founded: ~2016. Acquired Hixme (first group-to-individual model, est. 2013) and Tembi Health (telemedicine). Headquartered in Santa Ana, CA.

• Leadership: Matthew Kim (CEO, co-founder), Matt Christopherson (Chief Growth Officer), Erik Wissig (COO/CFO — co-founded Hixme, led ICHRA lobbying efforts that helped create current regulations)

• Funding: $23M Series A (September 2025), led by Health Velocity Capital with Kaiser Permanente Ventures

• Scale: ~60 customers, ~10,000 lives, ~$6M recurring revenue (Jul 2024 data)

• Target market: Enterprise only — deliberately single-segment, 200+ employees who intend to enroll

• Key partners: Flexspring (payroll integrations), Oscar Health (co-branded content), Savii (Medicare)

• Key limitation: Per-eligible billing model, documented enrollment and payment reliability issues (see Sections 4 and 5)

Thatch

• What we are: Full-stack health benefits platform — HRA administration, built-in insurance marketplace (Thatch Market), and employee shopping experience in one product

• Target market: Companies of all sizes — from startups to enterprise

• Product model: End-to-end — employers configure benefits, employees shop and enroll through Thatch Market, Thatch handles compliance, COBRA, and payroll integration automatically

• Billing model: Per enrolled employee — you only pay for employees who actually use the benefit

• Key advantage: In-house enrollment infrastructure, automated compliance, and payment reliability built from scratch

Feature Comparison

Pricing

SureCo Pricing

• Platform fee: $30–50/employee/month

• Compliance fee: $50/month flat

• Critical detail: Charges per ELIGIBLE employee, not per enrolled

Why the billing model matters

If you have 200 eligible employees and only 100 enroll, you're paying the platform fee on all 200. We've seen documented cases where total costs reached $15,000–$20,000/month for only 15 actively enrolled employees. When broker fees are added, effective costs can reach $50–60+ per enrolled employee per month.

This is SureCo's biggest structural weakness. The per-eligible model means your effective per-person cost depends entirely on how many employees actually enroll — and with sub-5% enrollment rates documented at multiple groups, the math gets ugly fast.

Thatch Pricing

• Per enrolled employee — you only pay for employees who use the benefit

• Includes marketplace, compliance, COBRA, and support

• Full cost structure visible upfront — no surprises

• Talk to sales for a quote →

Third-Party Infrastructure

The Integration Problem

SureCo markets "150+ HR system integrations" — but those connections run through Flexspring, a third-party managed service. Flexspring builds the connections, runs setup calls, validates data, and provides dashboards. It's professional services with a software layer, not true automation.

Customer feedback confirms the gap: "It basically didn't work at all, they were doing deductions manually and spun it as an integration."

The Enrollment Problem

Multiple large SureCo groups have reported sub-5% enrollment rates. At one ~350-employee construction group, only 15 employees enrolled. Without meaningful Spanish-language support and with limited on-site enrollment capability, SureCo's enrollment execution has been a consistent pain point for enterprise customers.

For an enterprise-only platform, enrollment execution is the product. When fewer than 5% of eligible employees actually enroll, the ICHRA isn't working — regardless of what the platform looks like.

The Payment Problem

Perhaps most critically, SureCo has documented issues with payment reliability. Premium reminder notices going to members. Missed payments causing lapsed coverage.

In one documented case, a missed payment led to a coverage lapse that had fatal consequences — an employee's family member was denied hospital care due to the lapse.

Payment reliability isn't a feature. It's the baseline. When an ICHRA platform misses premium payments, employees lose coverage. This is the most serious operational failure an ICHRA vendor can have.

How Thatch Is Different

Thatch built its financial stack, enrollment infrastructure, and carrier connections entirely in-house. Payroll integrations run through Finch, Merge, direct APIs, and an exclusive ADP partnership — true automation, not manual processing behind a dashboard. Payments flow reliably because the system is end-to-end, not stitched together from third-party services.

Billing & Payroll Simplicity

Thatch runs two clean monthly debits:

• Premium debit — covers employee insurance premiums

• Reimbursement debit — covers HRA reimbursements

Both integrate directly with payroll systems. Section 125 pre-tax treatment is built in. No manual reconciliation. No Flexspring intermediary. No deductions being "done manually and spun as an integration."

What SureCo Does Well

We're not here to trash competitors. Here's where SureCo is genuinely strong:

• Enterprise focus: SureCo deliberately serves only employers with 200+ employees. This single-segment focus means their product, implementation, and service delivery are built for large groups. If you're a 500+ employee company, SureCo understands your complexity.

• OE project planning: SureCo provides structured open enrollment timelines with education materials and scheduled enrollment windows — something many ICHRA platforms lack. Their OE process is more developed than most competitors.

• Regulatory heritage: Co-founder Erik Wissig led the lobbying efforts at Hixme that helped create current ICHRA regulations. SureCo's team has deep regulatory knowledge and was involved in shaping the rules they operate under.

• Kaiser Permanente backing: Kaiser Permanente Ventures participating in the Series A is a meaningful institutional validation signal.

Customer Experience — What We're Hearing

Review Scores

SureCo has zero listings on any independent review platform. Their online presence consists of 17 curated references on FeaturedCustomers (11 testimonials, 6 case studies) and a SHRM Vendor Directory listing. No independent, unfiltered customer reviews exist.

What We're Hearing from the Market

• Sub-5% enrollment rates at multiple enterprise groups — the core value prop isn't delivering

• Payment reliability failures causing coverage lapses — the most serious operational failure an ICHRA platform can have

• Payroll integrations described as manual work behind an "integration" label

• Limited Spanish-language support despite serving enterprise employers with diverse workforces

• Annual re-election requirement — employees must actively re-elect every year with no passive renewal option

What Thatch customers say

• "The employee experience is night and day compared to what we had before"

• "Our team actually understands their benefits now — they can see what they're getting in real time"

• "Setup was fast and the compliance piece just works — we don't think about it"

Frequently asked questions

Does SureCo charge per eligible or per enrolled employee?

Per eligible. This means you pay the platform fee for every employee on your roster, regardless of how many actually enroll and use the benefit. Thatch charges per enrolled employee only.

What are SureCo's enrollment rates?

Published enrollment data is limited. SureCo's own State of ICHRA report (with Oscar Health) shows 86% of employees change plans year-over-year and only 41% pick a Gold plan. Multiple enterprise groups have reported sub-5% enrollment rates, including a ~350-employee group where only 15 people enrolled.

Does SureCo have independent reviews?

As of September 2026, SureCo has zero listings on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, TrustRadius, or BBB. Their online presence consists of 17 curated references on FeaturedCustomers and a SHRM Vendor Directory listing. No independent customer reviews exist.

How do SureCo's payroll integrations work?

SureCo claims integrations with UKG, Workday, ADP, and "150+ HR systems." These integrations run through Flexspring, a third-party managed service that builds connections and manages data validation. Customer feedback has described the experience as manual work presented as automation.

Is SureCo a good fit for mid-market employers?

SureCo deliberately serves only employers with 200+ employees. If you're a mid-market employer with fewer than 200 employees, SureCo is not designed for your segment. Thatch serves employers of all sizes.

Does SureCo handle COBRA?

Partially. SureCo provides COBRA notices and documents but does not handle COBRA payment processing. They advise clients to keep their existing COBRA vendor. Thatch includes full automated COBRA administration.

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