Are there any jobs out there that offer health insurance still or are they doing away

[Krischaser]

Are all employers starting to do away with health insurance benefits? I think I need a new career change to find a job that does. We are a family of five and private insurance is way to expensive.

 

[Allison]

ALL employers-no. They are plenty of people who have good health insurance through their employers.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I work in a hospital and we still have insurance available, as does DH's employer (he's a paramedic for the county we live in). However, both of our employers offer the same plan--$4000 deductible per family per year ($2000 deductible on an individual plan), and 80/20 after that; $40 copay for office visit, 100% coverage on preventative med visits (GYN yearly, well-child checks, etc). I do insurance billing, and from what I can see, the high-deductible plans are more and more common in this area.

 

[crisi]

Both my husband and I are offered insurance through our providers, but for both of us, we pay a significant portion of our own premium and health care costs - the insurance is good, but its still $500 a month to cover a family of four under a low deductible plan (I have a healthy family and sufficient savings - we just go with a HDHCP which is less than $200 a month). The days of "100% employer paid insurance" where the insurance was a cadillac plan...that is an endangered species.

 

[teCh0010]

Look at the larger fortune 500 companies, most still offer good health insurance options. My employer offers a range of plans from high deductible HSA to the Cadillac PPO plans for all direct employees from the warehouse to the CEO.

 

[Colleen27]

Those jobs are out there but they're getting fewer and harder to find. If you aren't in a field that is unionized or in very high demand I wouldn't really expect much - maybe benefits will be available at a price, often a very high price, or maybe not. Employer health insurance is a perk intended to attract/retain talent and in this job market many employers are realizing that a paycheck alone is enough to accomplish that. And with the cost of health care continuing to skyrocket while profit margins for many are shrinking, smaller employers can't afford to offer much to employees at all.

ETA: Be careful about switching jobs based on insurance alone. We fell into that trap for a little while and all it got us in the long run was a lower wage, bottom-of-the-barrel status for seniority based benefits like vacation and overtime, and we still ended up with no insurance. DH changed jobs 3 times chasing benefits, only to have each of those three new jobs either eliminate their insurance program altogether or raise the employee share of premiums to a point where it would have consumed most of his pay to opt-in.

 

[eliza61]

Also remember that offering and being able to afford it are two different things. My sons employee offers health care but it is so expensive that most of his coworkers do not purchase it.

federal and state workers still have pretty decent benefits so that maybe the way to go.

 

[disneyofcourse]

In my opinion jobs with health insurance are very difficult to find. Most companies seem to be ending any and all benefits. I guess everyone figures that even if they keep on cutting pay and benefits someone will still work for them.

Even my friends who are pretty young and haven't been out of college long are competing with new graduates. Who are being hired with lower pay, part time hours and almost no benefits. While my friends have hours and benefits cut.

 

[disney1990]

There was a report just the other week that most employers offer health insurance. The ones that don't are usually temp and part time employment.

 

[lillygator]

Are you looking for free insurance? I've never worked for a company who ddnt offer it......but still had to pay a portion.

 

[matt and beth]

As part of a small company I can give you some observations.

1. Health care rates are or have been rising significantly over the last few years making it nearly impossible to insure people. The rates for my family are $1800 a month. That is $21,600 a year.

2. A small business can easily cancel their insurance when Obama Care comes paying the fine and immediately save money for the Corp. With the above rates if I had five employees I could cancel their insurance pay the fine and still have enough for a yearly wage for a new employee.

3. I spoke with my BIL who works for Blue Cross Blue Shield. I asked him what is up with the progressively higher rates. His explanation is that they are making changes prematurely, (he sets rates for companies there), in preparation for Obama Care. For instance they now have to carry children up to 26 that they never did before. Not only does this add years and numbers on a policy, but the real kicker he says is what are females between the ages of 22-26 doing. They are having babies and they are trying to get to the magic number to protect themselves at the insurance companies.

4. Obama care for all it's good intentions are causing some ate hikes that in a depressed economy are tough on businesses. I this would have happened during the glory days of the Clinton administration we never would have missed a beat. Just bad timing.

 

[Krischaser]

No--I'm not looking for free insurance I am working for a larger company that only gives $200 reimbursement to your bill. Everyone is saying that I should be greatful but I wonder what else is out there. I was with my previous company for 21 years and they offered full health insurance. I know that is not the norm anymore that is why I am trying to figure out what might be.

 

[jenjifer]

Wowza. This thread made me make my DH promise to stay at his company forever!

His boss pays 100% of our premium. (Most employees get 50% coverage, but this was part of his employment package). Granted, our co-pays are kind of high ($25 office visit) but the kids are big enough that we're not there all of the time like we were when they were little. (Where's the "knock on wood" emoticon)

 

[Tinknalli]

DH works for the school system and has great insurance through BCBS. Our family plan costs us about $60 per month out of pocket. We have $10 copays for our PCP, $30 for specialist and no ED or inpatient copays. I work for a hospital and our plan is similar but copays are a little higher. If we chose my plan it would be about $250/month out fo pocket for us. So, there are employers that offer decent insurance at an affordable cost. Unfortunately, we will be the ones that suffer under OBAMA Care.

 

[VAfamily1998]

US military.

 

[IUTBAM]

The oil & gas industry as a whole offers very good benefits to its employees. My DH has worked in this field for 20 years, and the benefits only get better. He took a new position last spring (as an environmental, health and safety manager for a mid-size o&g company), and was given 5 weeks of vacation, and excellent health insurance. For our family of four, we pay $2 a month (TOTAL) for health/dental/vision. The company covers the rest. And it's a good plan...$10 copay to see our regular doctor, $50 co-pay for ER, $20 copay for specialist, and $5 co-pay for Rx's. I'm not sure why they even charge the $2, lol, but I'm not complaining.

 

[angierae]

I am incredibly lucky in that my employer, a law firm, offers 100% paid insurance (an 80/20 plan, so it's pretty good) to it's employees. It does not, however, cover children or spouses - if you want to add them on, you pay 100% of that - which would mean paying $600 a month to cover DH.

So he pays for an independent plan (he's a contractor) that isn't as good as ours, but has still been cheaper in the long run.

 

[lucigo]

US military.

Even military are suffering. We don't get our kids covered through college, that costs extra. And once you retired if you have a child with a disability they no longer qualify for disability services. Copays for medications are going up, and if you chose to get meds at the base the wait is long and painful.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

Like another poster said, the great health benefits are in state/fed/municipal jobs that are paid by taxpayers, along with a strong union that protects the workers regardless of whether the workplace has any money. I worked in a place like that (as a benefitless part-timer) and the full-timers used every ounce of that cadalliac insurance to the max (I never met so many people with so many specialist for every body part). I was just let go (along with 5 others) so the workplace could continue to pay the cadalliac benefits to the full-timers.

So that's where the best insurance is - in jobs where the taxpayer pays for it.

 

[crisi]

Like another poster said, the great health benefits are in state/fed/municipal jobs that are paid by taxpayers, along with a strong union that protects the workers regardless of whether the workplace has any money. I worked in a place like that (as a benefitless part-timer) and the full-timers used every ounce of that cadalliac insurance to the max (I never met so many people with so many specialist for every body part). I was just let go (along with 5 others) so the workplace could continue to pay the cadalliac benefits to the full-timers.

So that's where the best insurance is - in jobs where the taxpayer pays for it.

That isn't nearly as true as it used to be. One of my good friends is a teacher in Minnesota, she gets private insurance because its cheaper than what the district gets her, even in a union job. Another works for the state, coverage for her family is $500 a month in a union job. My sister worked for the VA years ago, and her insurance was worse than mine with a private employer, even then.