loss of health benefits

[usetobe3]

What is the name of your state?PA

A friend after 28 yrs of service has had the insurance taken away from his spouse. He was given a slight raise but not even close to getting insur for his wife. But the emplyer still has coverage for his own family. I was under the impression that whatever you had for your self and family had to also be provided to the employee.

 

[Beth3]

I was under the impression that whatever you had for your self and family had to also be provided to the employee. No, that is not true. Different "classes" of employees may be treated differently. There is no law that says whatever benefits are provided to the company owner or executives must be provided to everyone.

There is not nearly enough information in your post to comment further about your friend's situation though and whether it was lawful for the employer to cancel coverage for your friend's wife. How big is the employer? Are there other employees? If so, did all of them have family coverage cancelled? What explanation was given?

 

[ablessin]

With the cost of health care on the rise, many employers are scaling back their healthcare benefit.

It sucks for your friend - however I am going to guess it was legal. The employer does not HAVE to provide coverage for the employee, let alone their families. ( I "think" Hawaii is the exeption, not 100% sure).

One would imagine some sort of notice would have been mailed - either to the employee at home if not intramural mail stating "effective_____ we will no longer include in our benefits package health care coverage for anyone but our employee" or something along those lines.

Sorry, but no laws were broken........ and yes, some execs have different benefits than hourly staff do, too. I have seen where the employer has (say) Blue Cross, but the execs have $1000 deductible, while maybe hourly staff has a $500 deductible.

 

[cbg]

( I "think" Hawaii is the exeption, not 100% sure).

You are correct. Employers of a certain size and up in Hawaii have to make insurance available to their employees. I'd have to look it up myself to see if they are required to include families as well.

No other state requires employers to provide health insurance at all. If they do offer it, it is entirely legal for different classes of employees to have different benefits. The only caveat is that every employee in a particular class has to be offered the same benefits. If managers get x, then all managers must be offered x. It's okay if directors get y and clerical employees get z, but all managers must offered x, just as all directors must be offered y and all clericals offered z.