Employer-Provided Health Insurance Approaches $20,000 a Year (2014, work, companies, tax)
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I recently discoverd in FL that some employers provide a fixed cost of around $300 per month toward healthcare. The company has several plans to select from, but the $300 only covers most of the very basic plan with high deductibles. If the trend continues to only provide a certain amount toward the plan (as opposed to covering most of it and asking for a contribution) I can see more people opting not to take the insurance and more people being uninsured.
Remember- that as long as a person can show up at the emergency room and be treated, someone is paying that bill if they don't have insurance. It's either the taxpayer or other people who have insurance.
While requiring everyone to have insurance was not popular, this state of affairs is unsustainable where insurance companies cannot deny pre-existing conditions and everyone can be treated at the emergency room.
These are the reasons I am for single payer. (I just became eligible for Medicare and so far it is better than any insurance I've had in the last 15 years)
When I retired two years ago, my employer was paying 100% of my health care premiums. Last I heard, that amounted to almost $30,000 a year for each employee. Multiply that times 12,000 employees!
Most employers now require their employees to pay a portion of their health care costs. I was one of the fortunate ones for sure. I will say that my former employer did implement several policies where we would have to earn a number of “points” in order to maintain our tier one benefits. Losing weight, quitting smoking, regular checkups and such all earned points.
Most people have no idea what their employer pays for their health care, and I think employers should share that info with them. Just like they should share the $100k electric bills, or the $250k natural gas bills in winter(2.5 million sq.ft.plant).
Most people have no idea what their employer pays for their health care, and I think employers should share that info with them. Just like they should share the $100k electric bills, or the $250k natural gas bills in winter(2.5 million sq.ft.plant).
But they do share what they are paying with the employee. Company benefits websites show a Benefits Summary and it shows the total cost of the health insurance with a break-down of what the employer is paying and what the employee is paying. There are no secrets about this. And if you leave a company using COBRA, you will see the increase in the monthly payments because the employer is no longer kicking in.
There are too many tricks played with employers posting jobs and saying they have health insurance benefits, but don't give any details of what it will actually cost the employee to cover their family. In many companies like staffing firms and small companies, they don't pay anymore than is required by their state which has been 10%, with the other 90% being paid by the employee. Also, the plans available can have high deductibles like $6K a year. HR conceals all this until you have been interviewed by them and they are about ready to make an offer. They don't advertise these high costs on the company's career section of the website. So while the base salary might seem higher than you are making now for the same job, your net can be much lower if the employer hasn't selected a good plan and isn't paying into the plan enough.
We have an aging workforce at my employer. I’m the only one on my six person team under 50. Three are over 60. Overhead has risen. Costs to provide the healthcare have risen. This surprises no one.
These costs are passed on to employees. I don't know how long you've been in workforce, but benefits aren't free anymore, the employee pays a portion of them. My niece pays $945 a month as her share for her family (teacher). I asked a very young speech therapist what she pays for just herself because I was thinking of switching to full time with benefits (I have always taken the higher pay rate and bought my own) and was shocked when she said it was $245 a pay (so $490 a month).
You didn't really think the employers just take it on the chin and pay the higher rates alone, did you?
Having said that I agree health care costs are out of control.
You also realize there are many people who don't get employer sponsored benefits and have to pay the entire premium increases alone? I only ask that because on the thread about working Americans struggling to make it today, you were one of those arguing that it's not any harder today and if they were it's their own fault.
In NYC insurance is free for teachers my wife pays pay $0 a year and copays are $15, $30 specialist, $50 mri, $100 hospital, $300 if admitted to hospital is capped at $900 a year for copays for all covered members. it used to be better with lower copays.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
Also I would like to see a link correlating providing benefits or not with giving raises. There are a lot of companies who keep people just under the hours needed for benefits or otherwise don't offer benefits who also don't give raises.
It amazes me how greed is excused over and over.
Our employer's cost has been close to $20,000 for several years now, I just checked my last pay stub and my share of the medical premium is $19, dental $5. We still do get an annual performance based raise, my last was 4.5%. My wife's medical is fully paid by her employer, and she got a 7% raise.
Employer-Provided Health Insurance Approaches $20,000 a Year
The average cost of employer health coverage offered to workers rose to nearly $20,000 for a family plan this year, according to a new survey, capping years of increases that experts said are chiefly tied to rising prices paid for health services.
Average annual premiums rose 5% to $19,616 for an employer-provided family plan in 2018, according to the yearly poll of employers by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. Employers, seeking to blunt the cost of premiums, also continued to boost the deductibles that workers must pay out of their pockets before insurance kicks in.
When people wonder where the raises are, well, health insurance premiums are one of the places to look.
I honestly don't understand why large companies aren't leading the charge for universal healthcare.
Until the profit motive is removed from health insurers, this trend will continue to go up up up. There is unfortunately no easy solution, but my common theme in this Work & Employment section is for us workers to do whatever necessary to get ahead.
I honestly don't understand why large companies aren't leading the charge for universal healthcare.
Larger companies are moving towards these ridiculous HSA/HRA plans, which places the burden onto their employees. There is now a huge disincentive to go to the doctor for anything minor as employees are now burdened with these $1,500 to $3,000 deductible plans. The "insurance" is now really only applicable for catastrophic illnesses or the simple preventive visits like physicals, which are typically covered at 100%. If you have a cough, skin rash, (insert minor illness here), and you're in an HSA plan, you now have to really think twice about visiting the doctor.
In NYC insurance is free for teachers my wife pays pay $0 a year and copays are $15, $30 specialist, $50 mri, $100 hospital, $300 if admitted to hospital is capped at $900 a year for copays for all covered members. it used to be better with lower copays.
When I worked in a N.J. district (as an OT) through 2005, I only paid $5 a pay for a great plan. That’s why I was shocked when my niece, whose salary is the $40k range, paid almost $1000 a month.
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