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different medical premiums for same group benefit

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bunny615

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?Wisconsin

I have worked for my current employer for over seven years. I was enrolled in our group medical plan for the first 3 years. For the past four years, I have been enrolled in my wife's medical plan. My wife has accepted a part time position elsewhere and I have asked my employer to be reinstated in the company plan. He said I could but I would have to pay the full premium cost for the family plan. I am a manager. I have asked the other managers and employees what they contribute to the company family plan. All of them state that they pay about $1000/yr. I am expected to pay about $9000. The company included $125/mo in my salary when I was not on the company plan. From reading other postings, it would seem the employer can pretty much do what they want when it comes to discriminating the fringe benefits they pay employee to employee within the same company. I am currently pursuing other employment opportunities but just wanted to inquire.
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
And when you asked the company why the discrepancy, what did they say?
 

Beth3

Senior Member
From reading other postings, it would seem the employer can pretty much do what they want when it comes to discriminating the fringe benefits they pay employee to employee within the same company. Actually, that's far from true. It depends how the employer/insurance company has defined "classes" of participating employees.

The key question is the one cbg asked. Please post back and answer it.
 

bunny615

Junior Member
cbg said:
And when you asked the company why the discrepancy, what did they say?
They basically told me that they did not want to spend the additional $9000 for my medical plan. I talked with them yesterday and they said I would not have to pay the whole amount but a "substantial" part of the premium. The company kept coming back with the same reply "we are not paying for that whole premium". They also said that I was on the single plan when I started my employment. When I married, I went on my wife's plan. The company reimbursed me for the single plan which was about $200/mo. They reimbursed me this amount less their portion of the FICA tax and put that as part of my salary. The company told me they will calculate the cost I need to pay for the premium by taking the current family rate minus the current single rate less my reimbursement less the current amount the employees contribute to pay for the plan. If I calculated this out right, I will pay more than what the family premium cost straight up! Also, I will now receive less base salary if I take the insurance than my beginning salary when I was on the insurance when I first started. When I began my employment, I negotiated the same base pay as I was making at my former employer. This included all benefits including insurance. I know this is a long and confusing explanation to your question. But that is why I inquired to you on my options, if any. Thank you again for your time.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
The company told me they will calculate the cost I need to pay for the premium by taking the current family rate minus the current single rate less my reimbursement less the current amount the employees contribute to pay for the plan. Okay, that has me scratching my head. Maybe it will make more sense to cbg.

If you take their insurance, certainly they will discontinue the stipend they have been paying you ($200) in lieu of taking the insurance. (By the way, your employer did not have to do this and if they do, it is taxable income.) Why would your new premium be "less my reinbursement." They simply need to stop paying that.

Would you happen to be the ONLY employee currently taking the family plan? I am aware of some employers who pay for the employee's own insurance and if the employee wants family coverage, he/she pays the entire difference. If that's what your employer is proposing and that's what they have other employees on the family plan pay, that is legal.

When I began my employment, I negotiated the same base pay as I was making at my former employer. This included all benefits including insurance. But that doesn't mean it can't change. Your employer's insurance premiums certainly have or will increase over time. Plus your coverage needs have apparently changed.

Calculating your share of the family plan OUGHT to be simple:

Monthly premium - employer contribution = your cost. I don't understand why this is so complicated.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
It doesn't make any more sense to me than it does to you, Beth. I suspect there's a major factor we don't know about. It may be that our poster is, as you suggested, the only employee taking family coverage; it may be something in the employee's contract (if there is one); it may be something else, but I doubt that we have the whole story.

Poster - I'm not accusing you of holding back - you may not have realized the importance of whatever factor is missing or it may be something you don't know about.
 

bunny615

Junior Member
I know it is confusing because I can't understand it either. I talked with the company again today about my concerns. Earlier in the day they gave me a proposal to pay approximately $50/mo. for my family premium and I would pay for $710/mo. I told them I did not believe this was fair that I should be charged this amount when the other manager's on this family plan pay a total of $54/mo. and the company pays the rest. So to answer your question about others being on the family plan, there are quite a few in our company. They said they paid me $80/two week pay period on my salary for not taking the coverage. I understand and accept that this should be taking back out. My entire question is: Why am I the only one that is paying so much more for my medical health benefit. Their answers were vague ranging from "we are paying the other managers too much and you are where you are suppose to be as far as base salary", to "When you were hired you were on single coverage and that has not gone up. But, the family has gone up substantially".

All I am trying to get an answer to is why I am not being treated the same as the other managers? If I want family coverage, as they have, I will be paid 20% less in base salary compared to their salaries. Basically, if I want the same coverages as these other managers, I will sacrifice my base salary by $710/mo. vs their $120/mo.

I am not trying to hold anything back but trying to explain this situation the best I can.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
Only your company can answer the "why" questions. We would have no idea, because no one here made the decision.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
I'm getting the impression that when you joined the company you negotiated a higher salary than you would have gotten, with the understanding that benefits were included in the salary; in other words, that you were responsible for a significant portion of your benefits BECAUSE of the fact that you were getting a higher salary. Am I correct?
 

bunny615

Junior Member
On the contrary, I received this job from applying for a loan for a vehicle at this dealership six months prior to working there. I was asked at that time if a job opened, would I be interested. They called me six months later and they matched my salary I was making which was equal to the other managers. This base salary did not include benefits. Besides the base salary, we each receive other benefits including medical. I was on a single benefit plan for a couple of years. When I decided to get off the plan, the increased my salary by $80/pay period. Now that I want to get back on the plan, they want to charge me $710/mo vs the other managers paying about $120/mo. Only reason they gave me was that they did not want tp pay for my insurance. When I confronted them about the equality of another manager, they responded by saying it was their fault they are paying him too much. But they can't take away his pay even though that is what they are proposing to me. Thanks again for all your help in this complicated matter. Please advise me on my next step.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
D***n, I thought I'd finally started making sense of this. Gotta think about this a bit.
 

bunny615

Junior Member
I know this is frustrating. I was thinking about the easiest way to explain this situation to help you make sense of this so you can help me. I thought the best way to do this is to go back to one of your earlier postings. You said the medical benefit I receive should be as easy as: PREMIUM - EMPLOYERS CONTRIBUTION = EMPLOYEE COST. Which in actual numbers looks like this for the family plan ($760 - $706 = $54). This is how everyone who is on this company plan receives this medical benefit, except me. My equation that was proposed to me is:($760 - $50 = $710).

This is about the easiest way I can explain this situation. And the reason why I have to pay this higher cost is "BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO PAY AN EXTRA $8500 FOR MY MEDICAL PREMIUMS".

I hope this helps. There is no other explanations and I am not holding anything else back.
 

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