Does your job pay 100% for your health insurance?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My husband was in the running for this other job and they were the only company that I had heard of that paid 100% of the premiums including deductible for employees' health insurance. However there were only 8 employees total.

There's pros and cons to tying health insurance to an employee perk, it's not all bad, it's not all good.

 

[GAN]

Large employers self-insure such that they can theoretically spend less if the workforce is relatively healthy. But that puts employers into a real bind if there are a lot of costs, such as a few getting really expensive care. I remember one CEO who blamed a poor quarterly report on a few families needing highly specialized care costing millions of dollars.

It might also create an incentive (however illegal) to not hire or retain someone based on a perception of how much medical care is going to cost. In the case of employees with families, it might create an incentive to preferentially lay off employees with families when the employer covers part of the premium cost.

My Company is self-insured. A couple years ago I was pursuing someone to work for me and it took a while to get an interview. They wanted decent money(but doable), everything looked good until they told me they had 10 children! I never asked -they offered the info in casual conversation. There was no way I could make the math work, given their healthcare costs could be potentially quite high. Needless to say, that never worked out....

 

[starry_solo]

My Company is self-insured. A couple years ago I was pursuing someone to work for me and it took a while to get an interview. They wanted decent money(but doable), everything looked good until they told me they had 10 children! I never asked -they offered they info in casual conversation. There was no way I could make the math work, given their healthcare costs could be potentially quite high. Needless to say, that never worked out....

My first employer in my current career paid for employees + all dependents. I *think* that got dropped in the great recession of the 2009-2012 era and never picked back up, but I stopped working them before the great recession so I don't know for sure, just what rumors I heard from the people I remained in contact with. I remember someone had 8 kids and I was like, how come they won't pay my private insurance when they pay for this 10-person family? They didn't offer the insurance I wanted so I only got $125/month from them to pay for my own private insurance, which at that time was $250/month.

 

[princesscinderella]

We own our small business and therefore have to pay our own insurance and we got dropped from our small business plan once Obama care/marketplace came into existence. For our family of 5 it costs 20k for health insurance. Our kids are on Florida healthy kids full pay as it was 1/2 the price with more benefits than through our ppo with a $6k deductible each. Sometimes I wish my husband would fire me so I could get a job just for the insurance benefits, but we work too well as a team.

 

[CdnCarrie]

What about prescription drugs? That's probably the biggest expense most of us run through our benefits. I wasn't aware Manitoba paid for them. Federal coverage for drugs has not gotten off the ground.

They don’t.
I have a prescription not covered by my work benefits that I pay over $100 out of pocket per month for.

 

[White Cat]

I wish insurance wasn’t tied to your employer or if we had something similar to Canada or Europe. It would make retiring early much easier.

We have “free” in Canada but we have a policy in the USA that costs us about $800 a month. Trust me the health care in the USA is far better. You get what you pay for. There are places in Canada that have better veterinary care than human care. Not many Americans go to Canada for health care. But Canadians do come to the USA for health care. That says it all.

 

[nene0182]

No. I work for a large company that is self insured and for the 3 of us, we pay about $160 a month for health, dental and vision. Which I don’t think is horrible at all.

 

[prairie_girl]

What about prescription drugs? That's probably the biggest expense most of us run through our benefits. I wasn't aware Manitoba paid for them. Federal coverage for drugs has not gotten off the ground.

They do. You have to apply for it and depending on your income, you pay a certain deductible and then the rest are paid for for that year. There are the rare ones that aren’t covered, but 99% are. It’s a program that, for whatever reason, most aren’t aware of. It’s not for only low income people. My husband and I aren’t millionaires, but we still make a decent amount. This past year our deductible was $1100 or so and we hit it in three months.

 

[prairie_girl]

They don’t.
I have a prescription not covered by my work benefits that I pay over $100 out of pocket per month for.

Have you looked into Pharmacare?

 

[ronandannette]

My Company is self-insured. A couple years ago I was pursuing someone to work for me and it took a while to get an interview. They wanted decent money(but doable), everything looked good until they told me they had 10 children! I never asked -they offered the info in casual conversation. There was no way I could make the math work, given their healthcare costs could be potentially quite high. Needless to say, that never worked out....

So what would have happened if they hadn't told you about the 10 kids? Would you have offered them the job and then terminated them when you found out? When I'm hiring it's always a worry that a candidate will have a chronic health condition. Not because of benefits costs but due to the issue of absenteeism. They don't have to disclose and we can't terminate after-the-fact on that basis alone.

 

[ronandannette]

We have “free” in Canada but we have a policy in the USA that costs us about $800 a month. Trust me the health care in the USA is far better. You get what you pay for. There are places in Canada that have better veterinary care than human care. Not many Americans go to Canada for health care. But Canadians do come to the USA for health care. That says it all.

No it isn't, and you of all people should understand that. I'm confused as to how you qualify anyway since you are neither a permanent resident (I don't think) or a citizen. You've never exactly mentioned your immigration status so I assume you enter and leave simply as a visitor. That would NOT entitle you to health care in any part of Canada.
ETA: Marrying a Canadian does NOT confer any immigration status here.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Have you looked into Pharmacare?

that’s for low income families so we don’t really qualify. Or I guess those without a private plan
I believe our deductible is like $2500.
So now I have to wait until Canada Life includes this under my coverage or until a cheap generic version is ready for sale.

I do have coverage with work for 80% drug but not all new drugs are covered.

 

[mommasita]

I could have received a very basic plan fully paid, but I chose a better plan that I have to contribute to. The costs work out better for me in the long run based on my needs.

This is me. Choice A- 100% covered, Choice B- Better plan, I pay 7.95 per pay, But I also bought an extra week of vacation, and I pay it there over 24 pays.

 

[GAN]

So what would have happened if they hadn't told you about the 10 kids? Would you have offered them the job and then terminated them when you found out? When I'm hiring it's always a worry that a candidate will have a chronic health condition. Not because of benefits costs but due to the issue of absenteeism. They don't have to disclose and we can't terminate after-the-fact on that basis alone.

I'm certain I would have offered them the job. It would have been water under the bridge after that -we'd have to live with it.

 

[LYSE]

I'm certain I would have offered them the job. It would have been water under the bridge after that -we'd have to live with it.

Man that's an interesting perspective I would never have thought of as an employee/job candidate

I guess at first I would say it's wrong for that to be a factor in hiring and I probably still think so but on the other hand I personally would not want to be working for a company whos numbers are tight enough for that to even be an issue, but I guess I'm fortunate enough to be in an Industry where benefits are generous out of necessity in order to attract talent.

I guess airing that out worked for both parties.

 

[Turn the Page]

I think DH's employer covers around 95% of our family healthcare premiums. We are very lucky that way. And it isn't a bad plan either.

 

[prairie_girl]

that’s for low income families so we don’t really qualify. Or I guess those without a private plan
I believe our deductible is like $2500.
So now I have to wait until Canada Life includes this under my coverage or until a cheap generic version is ready for sale.

I do have coverage with work for 80% drug but not all new drugs are covered. What are you basing low income on?

We make comfortably more than what is considered low income, and we have always had coverage through work as well.

 

[GAN]

Man that's an interesting perspective I would never have thought of as an employee/job candidate

I guess at first I would say it's wrong for that to be a factor in hiring and I probably still think so but on the other hand I personally would not want to be working for a company whos numbers are tight enough for that to even be an issue, but I guess I'm fortunate enough to be in an Industry where benefits are generous out of necessity in order to attract talent.

I guess airing that out worked for both parties.

It's a reality. We could have hired almost two people for the price of one. It's not that numbers are tight... that's profit off the top, which we get to share as a business unit. So, it would literally be cash out of other employees pockets, potentially. The owner makes it quite lucrative on anything over and above -so yeah ....we pay close attention to it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's a reality. We could have hired almost two people for the price of one. It's not that numbers are tight... that's profit off the top, which we get to share as a business unit. So, it would literally be cash out of other employees pockets, potentially. The owner makes it quite lucrative on anything over and above -so yeah ....we pay close attention to it.

Had anyone ever been hired before with that amount of kids? I guess I'm thinking the overall health of employees. Adults tend to have problems that are lifestyle driven and genetics too. But I'm thinking like COPD from smoking for example, or weight-related issues, or cancer diagnosis (which to be fair also happens in kids). Also age related issues (like my mom had double total knee replacement surgery and went on short term disability each surgery plus the PT, meds, etc)

I would think expenses-wise you're looking at more preventative care and smaller doctors visits for kids but more after care and likely larger costs doctors for adults.

All pure thinking out loud I've just wondered if people were making the assumption long term it would cost the company more just by the virtue of having that many to cover under a plan. Wonder if the actuaries have done all that legwork?

 

[CdnCarrie]

We make comfortably more than what is considered low income, and we have always had coverage through work as well.

Pharmacy (or doctor?) applied for me when I went on this new uncovered drug and our letter indicated $2500 deductible. That’s all I know.
We would never pay (hopefully!) $2500 a year out of pocket with my benefits so Pharmacare won’t help me at all. Maybe once I’m a senior.

if you are meeting your deductible in a few months even with a work plan coverage you must have some expensive meds!