How does your health insurance with your employer work?

[mikegg]

My employer just gives me a $450/month allowance on health insurance for myself and my family(if needed). Anything over $450, I'll have to cover.

Dental/Vision are covered for me already and will cost extra if I bring on family.

Is this normal? How does your work?

 

[Red Storm]

They take around ~$40 out of my monthly pay.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I've never heard of a business doing that. If they're giving you $450/month, aren't you taxed on that? Typically, the employer purchases group insurance for everyone and you pay a part of the premium with a payroll deduction.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Employer covers 100% of premiums and initially gave everyone a raise equal to the deductible (after taxes) for employees to deposit into an HSA. We're covered for medical, dental, and vision.

 

[spidey07]

A lot of companies are going to this "ala carte" style benefits where you get a pool of benefit money and can choose what plans you want. Let's say you don't want dental and vision, you save benefit money there and can get a better HI plan. Of course you are expected to pay anything above that in premiums from the different plans.

 

[mikegg]

I've never heard of a business doing that. If they're giving you $450/month, aren't you taxed on that? Typically, the employer purchases group insurance for everyone and you pay a part of the premium with a payroll deduction.

They don't send me money though. They just allow up to $450 for a plan with Anthem. If I don't use the all of the $450, I don't get the remainder.

 

[TwiceOver]

Employer pays 100% of employee and 20% of the ridiculously insane small fortune we have to pay for "family" coverage.

The only reason my wife works is to cover her and our son because it is cheaper for her to work for insurance and pay fulltime daycare than it is for me to pay it out of my paycheck.

 

[Kreon]

My employer pays 80% of premiums for individuals and slightly less for family plans. We are responsible for deductibles ($500/yr + co-pays). Medical and vision included, dental isn't.

 

[poopaskoopa]

Medical, dental, vision are all separate on my plan. The last 2 are a few bucks every 2 weeks. The big one is medical, which costs $249 every 2 weeks. That's with the employer footing ~64% of the premium. My plan has a wife and a child on it. It was about $80/mo when I was unmarried and no kid with the same company.

Coverage is 90/10 for in-network, with $800 yearly deductible plus co-pay.

 

[rudeguy]

well...

I pay $135 biweekly for my health care premium. Plus $96 into flex spending per check.

My employer gives me an HSA with $1350, so the first $1350 is covered 100% but my deductible is $2500, so the next $1150 is 100% out of pocket (out of flex). After I meet deductible my copay is 10%

 

[TwiceOver]

well...

I pay $135 biweekly for my health care premium. Plus $96 into flex spending per check.

My employer gives me an HSA with $1350, so the first $1350 is covered 100% but my deductible is $2500, so the next $1150 is 100% out of pocket (out of flex). After I meet deductible my copay is 10%

$96/check into FSA? Isn't the max $2500 or are you doing dependent care also?

 

[DaTT]

I get $750/year in a HSA which can carry over 1 time at the end of the year for a total of $1500 if I don't use any of it. I also am on the free plan at work which I don't pay for (hence the term free) which covers 50% of dental and vision and 75% of prescriptions. The remainder of the cost I use the HSA for.

I can actually use my HSA to pay for my insurance premiums if I chose to go with a better plan, but my wife has a decent HSA so we don't need to.

 

[rcpratt]

I use the HMO plan offered by my employer. I pay like $100/mo pre-tax, they hand me insurance cards. I take cards to doctor. Doctor says hi. Doctor says give me $15. Doctor says we'll send this off to your insurance. I never hear about it again.

 

[jaysen]

$1350/month per employee

Employees have many options to choose from - Kaiser HMO, BlueCross PPO, CalPers...

Most plans in the low-middle range will cover a family with the money given and rarely require the employee to pay out of pocket. If the employee selects the best coverage that $1350 would be used on just him/her.

Any unused funds are paid out to the employee each month. I.e. you select a single plan for $500/month employee pockets an additional $850 but thats rarely the case. Should an employee have their own insurance they get to pocket the full amount.

Some might see this as excessive but in my line of work injuries occurr more often than from those sitting at a desk.

 

[xanis]

I can legally stay on my parents' insurance until I'm 26, so I'm doing that and pocketing an extra $175/month from my employer for not taking their insurance.

 

[CPA]

I've never heard of a business doing that. If they're giving you $450/month, aren't you taxed on that? Typically, the employer purchases group insurance for everyone and you pay a part of the premium with a payroll deduction.

Larger companies are generally self-insured. This allows them to control costs better than a premium-based plan. Employees don't generally know the difference, but there are several behind the scenes.

 

[CPA]

$96/check into FSA? Isn't the max $2500 or are you doing dependent care also?

$96 x 26 = ~$2500. He's paid bi-weekly like me.

 

[darkxshade]

HSA

 

[mizzou]

$450 won't take you very far when you need to see a specialist. OP, what is your Out of Pocket Maximum?

 

[biostud]

8% health care tax

 

[bigrash]

I pay about $150/month for wife and I. Company pays the rest.

 

[crownjules]

I pay $45 bi-weekly, my company pays $136. I'm responsible for all co-pays. Similar ratio for Dental and Vision.

 

[rudeguy]

$96/check into FSA? Isn't the max $2500 or are you doing dependent care also?

yep

Last year I put $4k in total and only ended up with $18 leftover. I really hope lil rudeguy doesn't need new glasses or more dental work this year.

Dependent care wouldn't do anything for me. Wish it would, I don't like spending post tax dollars on stuff like that.

 

[mikegg]

$450 won't take you very far when you need to see a specialist. OP, what is your Out of Pocket Maximum?

No idea. I'm probably going to buy their most expensive plan with the $450. Do Anthem PPO plans usually cover specialists?

 

[jupiter57]

You kiddos should feel very grateful.
I am retired & the best plan I found that meets my needs is a $250 yearly deductible with a 20% co-pay for ~$730 mo. (Me & Wifey)!
But before I retired, my last employer was paying ~$650 mo. single plan for me alone, I paid nothing. ( Group plan, 4 out of 7 of us were over 50 years old!)