Health Insurance

[alk]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri

My employer recently changed our our health insurance policy. Before, everyone with a spouse covered on the policy paid the same amount for insurance. However, now, if your spouse has insurance available through their employer and you would still rather go with our insurance, there is an additional fee per month. Whereas, employees with spouses that either don't work or only work part time and therefore don't have insurance available, pay less for coverage now. We even had to sign a waiver that said we are being honest. And if it is discovered that we are not, the consequences can even include termination. Is this legal?

 

[pattytx]

It's not only legal, it's becoming increasingly common. Employers are looking for ways to hold their benefit costs down (or at least, keep them from skyrocketing) and charging more for spouse coverage when the spouse has other insurance available is one of the ways to do that.

 

[TIMMAAYY]

There are other ways to handle the spousal shift, methods that are more employee friendly, but sadly, the way the OP's employer is doing it is not uncommon, just as some employers continue to strip benefits year after year.