medical benefit payment

[stasy17]

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

The company that my husband works for recently renewed thier medical insurance on August 1st. He is paying roughly $7540 out of his paycheck per year for this insurance. There is no medical coverage until we, as a family, reach the deductible of $10,000. So we will basically be paying $17,540 into this insurance this year before the insurance provider pays even $1.00 towards anything. I cannot understand how my husband is expected to pay $290 a paycheck into this insurance policy. Does he have a legal right to know how much his company pays for the insurance for family coverage? I think that the company is taking an obscene amount of money off of him for this, and possibly pocketing it.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[cbg]

I'd be very, very careful before making that kind of accusation. Where I work, family coverage for the CHEAPEST of the plans we offer costs $1,291 a month; the employee pays $194 a month and the employer pays the rest.

We offer two plans for which the employee pays $299 per month; the employer picks up the balance of the $1396 monthly charge.

Health insurance IS obscenely expensive - but an accusation that the employer is pocketing the money that is deducted is a very serious one. Without some kind of proof, you could be getting yourself into some very serious trouble making that kind of charge.

 

[ecmst12]

He agreed to the coverage when he enrolled too. For that kind of money, you could get a cheaper plan privately if you are all healthy. He should think about dropping the coverage at open enrollment if there aren't any better options, a $10k deductible is really insane.

 

[stasy17]

I just want to know if he has the right to ask his employer how much they pay for family coverage. We do not have the option of getting coverage ourselves because of a medical issue. We will be putting half of his salary this year into medical coverage and that is crazy. So, can he ask his employer how much the family plan is and how much of it the employer pays???

 

[cbg]

He can ask. They may or may not tell him. They may feel that it is internal company information and they are not obligated under the law to give it to him.

 

[pattytx]

If this is coverage paid with pre-tax deductions, there are very limited situations under which an employee can change/drop coverage until the open enrollment period. These are IRS restrictions. The employer changing the amount the employee pays significantly after enrollment CAN be a qualifying event, but that isn't what happened here.

 

[cbg]

Won't help you now, but for the future:

W-2s For Health Insurance Begin Sooner Than You Think ? legalworkplace.com

 

[TIMMAAYY]

Ask what their COBRA rates are... this is typically the true cost of premium if they simply have a group plan in place.

Also, the employer should put in an optional plan for those that want to opt out of that ridiculously expensive plan. It's relatively simple to do, you just need the right documentation and administration. They would save 30 to 50% and give the employees better benefits with alternate funding.

A $10,000 straight deductible plan for a family rate of $628 a month, just for the employee's portion? That's ridiculously expensive even if the employee is paying 100% of the premium.