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

[malibuconlee]

According to DH's HR department the high deductible plans are becoming more the norm. They are only offering the PPO for this year and next. They have been told more employers are going to offer an allowance and push the employees into the "state pool"? Not sure I understand that. Waiting to see what changes the election may bring to the insurance arena.

 

[ReneeA]

My husband works for a family owned business - they pull their workers from the local tile union, and DH is the only "employee" other than family members. When he was first hired, he worked 65-70 hours a week, had great 100% covered health care, and did well enough that I was able to stay home with our kids. Then the economy tanked in Detroit and he was laid off. Within the year he was called back, stipulations being no guaranteed hours (work when there's work to be done), no benefits, but he kept his hourly wage. He jumped on it since there was nothing else at the time.

We now have my hospital health care, which is "meh". It costs me about $300 a month, and the coverage is okay. Our OOP cost doubled this year, and probably will again next year. Oh, and they are requiring that we get a physical and submit to blood work to prove we aren't smokers to get coverage...which is okay by me, but not by some of the others I work with (namely the smokers).

It is becoming much more difficult to find a job with decent health care benefits, for sure.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

You haven't been paying attention if you live in NJ.

I'm a municipal employee and I pay 33% of the premium as required by state law.

That's almost $600 per month. I realize many people pay more for insurance, but please don't spread misinformation and throw words around like "Cadillac benefits" when you don't really know what you are talking about.

I know exactly what I am talking about. Maybe there are differences between state, municipal, county workers, etc but where I work, the full-timers certainly don't pay 33% of any premium - they would all have heart-attacks if they did that! I work in a NJ public workplace where the full-time employees pay a tiny percentage based on their salaries (not premiums), and believe me, the benefits cover everything. The teachers in town have the same deal. These super-low-cost type of benefits definitely still exist in some NJ public sector workforces. I am in Essex county though, maybe that explains some of it. We are also working off the last year of a 4-year contract, so changes may be coming.

I basically just lost my job so the town could still continue to pay these astronomical benefits, so I'm sorry if I sound bitter. I wish my full-time coworkers WOULD pay $600 a month and understand how the rest of us live.

The OP wanted to know where the great medical benefits are, and I can assure you that my workplace still has them at very low cost to the employee.

 

[Pooh2]

US military.

Might be changing soon..

http://freebeacon.com/trashing-tricare/

 

[The Iron Giant]

I know exactly what I am talking about. Maybe there are differences between state, municipal, county workers, etc but where I work, the full-timers certainly don't pay 33% of any premium - they would all have heart-attacks if they did that! I work in a NJ public workplace where the full-time employees pay a tiny percentage based on their salaries (not premiums), and believe me, the benefits cover everything. The teachers in town have the same deal. These super-low-cost type of benefits definitely still exist in some NJ public sector workforces. I am in Essex county though, maybe that explains some of it. We are also working off the last year of a 4-year contract, so changes may be coming.

I basically just lost my job so the town could still continue to pay these astronomical benefits, so I'm sorry if I sound bitter. I wish my full-time coworkers WOULD pay $600 a month and understand how the rest of us live.

The OP wanted to know where the great medical benefits are, and I can assure you that my workplace still has them at very low cost to the employee.

You are not properly informed on this subject.

The state of NJ has changed the law regarding health insurance contributions for all public employees - meaning all local, municipal, county, and state workers.

There is now a sliding scale in effect that mandates all public employees to contribute up to 35% of the premium depending on their salary.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

My employer dropped it's insurance at the end of February. I was paying $160 per month and they were paying the rest. When the insurance premiums reached $600 + per employee, they opted to drop our coverage completely rather than give us the opportunity to pay more for it. My daughter has a private policy, but my husband and I are currently uninsured.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I have a plan through work, but it's basically worthless. They pay half of "me" and zero on the rest of the family. I'd be looking at $13,xxx a year for the whole family to be on their plan & it isn't even a very good plan. I bought my insurance on the outside. Even after my employer offered to pick up half my cost, it was cheaper to pay for a plan entirely on my own NOT through work

 

[drcmk]

My husband and I are both self-employed. We've purchased our own health insurance for the whole family for several years. Every year the rates go up. When they go up more than we can manage, we shop around. Other health insurance companies are usually willing to offer a "new client" deal for us to switch and we do. Then we start that process over again when the rates get too high again. It's kind of silly that insurance companies are more interested in getting new clients than maintaining current clients, but whatever . . .

Also we did the math and it turns out that it makes more sense for us to pay a lower monthly premium and have a higher copay. We are relatively healthy and the amount of money that we end up spending in copays in year is still much lower than paying higher premiums in order to get lower copays. We just have to budget accordingly.

 

[Piecey]

Not true AT ALL. My relative is a Fed employee for 25 years, her insurance for herself and her husband is VERY expensive and the ins company they had been with for years was raising it by $200. She had to switch companies and believe she said she still pays around 500-700 per month.
ck!

Your relative needs to take another look at the FEHB handbook.

Insurance for federal employees is phenomenal.

DH pays $97(ish?i forget exactly) a check for our family insurance plan. It has limited vision/dental included, too. $700 family deductible and $10 copays (well child, GYN annual are $0).. then 85/15 coverage.

Our son has some major medical issues that have caused us to hit our catastrophic every year since he was born. We would be bankrupt by now without this insurance policy, most likely... I spent HOURS combing through the FEHB handbook to choose the right policy for us, there are many to choose from.



.......

I also had insurance through all of the banks I worked for prior to having my kids. I carried our insurance for awhile, until DH got his federal job. One bank had very affordable policies, the other was outrageous and we elected to buy coverage through the University we attend for myself (DH relied on VA). So, check banks.

 

[aprilgail2]

I feel your pain! My husband is almost 62 and would like to take early retirement, however, our excellent HMO plan that we have had for over 36 years will not accept me as a member because of a pre-existing condition.

One of the things that is allowing me to retire early (50) is that my company pays for my medical until I am old enough for medicare and then once I am old enough for medicare I get an extra 100 or so in my pension towards paying for a supplemental policy. If we didn't have this benefit I would be stuck working there much longer- I would actually end up working there for 45 years instead of 30 until medicare kicked in

I have never had a job that didn't have some kind of benefits-my father always drilled into our heads to make sure we got a job with a nice pension and benefits so that stuck in both mine and my brothers heads. My job pays for all my medical, dental, optical and life insurance and also my pension. We have a 20.00 co-pay for dr's- if you go to a Dr not covered by empire its a 200.00 yearly deductible otherwise no deductible. When I had my daughter my entire expense was a 20.00 co-pay for the entire pregnancy. When she had her tonsils out my entire portion was 20.00. I don't "love" my job by any means but I love my benefits and pension plan so that makes it bearable!

 

[Swan4Me]

Aprilgail-you are very lucky-most employers have gone the way of high deductable Health ins.

 

[leahjade]

My sister is a pharmacy tech at a CVS and said you wouldn't believe how people scream and yell about having to pay a $10 co-pay for thousand dollar medications. And often these are the people who are in some kind of government assistance.

 

[Mississippian]

It's going to get worse. The government keeps adding "mandates" of things the insurance companies have to offer for "free." It started 20 or more years ago with free coverage for mental care. Then free coverage for children under 26. Now free birth control pills with no co-pay. Soon, they must add super-sick people with illnesses that cost tens of thousands a month to treat and charge them no more than anyone else pays. The only way to do this is to jack rates up through the roof and cut services for everyone else.

If the government would quit ordering the insurance companies around they could offer limited policies that people could afford. But somehow the government thinks the insurance companies have a magic wand that can just enable them to cure all of societies problems. They don't.

 

[tasha99]

I think my school district provides excellent health benefits. I pay about $100 per bimonth pay period for family coverage and have a $100 per person deductible. Vision and dental are included.

I think Alaska is a little behind the lower 48. It seems like the pinch is just starting to hit here, and I would guess teacher benefits will be degraded over time.

 

[leahjade]

The government keeps adding "mandates" of things the insurance companies have to offer for "free."

When will people learn there is NOTHING FREE. For everything offered at no cost, it raises premiums and co-pays to everyone.
People think health insurance companies are making mega profits when the truth is they average 3.3% per year when beverage companies make 25% and cigarette companies make 17% on the average.

 

[j's m]

We are worried about this issue, too. DH is retiring at 55 next month (he HAS to, there is almost no work for union carpenters in NJ), and we will lose his insurance after a year.... I might be able to get limited benefits from my PT job, and if DH picks up a PT job, maybe he can too. But DD in college will have nothing. And she has had major health issues for the last 5 years. I guess the college has some sort of coverage, in the past we always declined it.

So for ages 56-62 we will be somewhat in a pickle. I think we can sort of COBRA the coverage we have, but it is expensive, of course. He could start another mini career, and try to get us coverage, but that will be tough in this economy at age 55.

Oh geez, good point. Glad you pointed that out! We will be paying $700/month for health insurance for 8-9 years then. That will be the same plan as we have now (excellent PPO Horizon plan). Obama rules do not apply to retirees, but DD can stay on until age 23 if a FT student, we were told. It seems like so much to pay, but I think that is a fair rate compared to what we could buy in the open market ourselves.

If you are paying 700/month now in NJ, don't expect to be paying that for 10 years. If you have to go on the open market, you could be paying a lot more than that. We have a small employer group plan with 2500 deductible, $30/50 copays, 50% copay on prescriptions, no dental and pay $ 1842 monthly for the three of us. That's a group plan and DH and I are 63 and 61. When we looked into comparable individual plans, it was more than double.

If you are continuing on COBRA, it's only 18 months. Did you mean you could continue the coverage until 65 through the union? If so, that's a great deal.

 

[bedogged]

One of the things that is allowing me to retire early (50) is that my company pays for my medical until I am old enough for medicare and then once I am old enough for medicare I get an extra 100 or so in my pension towards paying for a supplemental policy. If we didn't have this benefit I would be stuck working there much longer- I would actually end up working there for 45 years instead of 30 until medicare kicked in

I have never had a job that didn't have some kind of benefits-my father always drilled into our heads to make sure we got a job with a nice pension and benefits so that stuck in both mine and my brothers heads. My job pays for all my medical, dental, optical and life insurance and also my pension. We have a 20.00 co-pay for dr's- if you go to a Dr not covered by empire its a 200.00 yearly deductible otherwise no deductible. When I had my daughter my entire expense was a 20.00 co-pay for the entire pregnancy. When she had her tonsils out my entire portion was 20.00. I don't "love" my job by any means but I love my benefits and pension plan so that makes it bearable!

You are very lucky! Would you mind sharing who you work for? My spouse has worked for the same company for over 36 years. He will be 62 in May. He feels as you do about the "love".