.

[IcSyU]

Seasonal construction company. 10 employees with health insurance during the winter...about 50 during the summer. $3,000/$6,000 deductible and max out-of-pocket. $575.32/mo for a single person, $1,208.17 for employee + spouse, $1,265.70 for employee + child(ren), $1,898.56 for family.

Company pays all but $10/week for a single policy but the additional cost of any policy is the responsibility of the employee.

I was told up front by our employee benefits company we get to pay roughly 20% over what everyone else does because Mayo is in our network and too readily available.

 

[mred]

The companies are paying full boat. Most Family plans seem to range $10,000 - $15,000 a year even for higher deductibles. My wife basically works for the health insurance. It was about half her "pay" when starting. So someone is paying that amount and just depends how much the employer can afford.

This. Companies that offer relatively cheap health insurance options don't do it because they get some sort of volume discount on insurance. They do it because they are covering 60%-80% of the cost themselves. Large companies that are self-insured may be a little cheaper because they aren't building any profit into the price, but that piece of the pie isn't that big.

 

[Bobber]

Small company (about 300 employees). Two options. Traditional insurance with copay and high deductible insurance with HSA account. About 2/3 of employees play it safe and go traditional. Monthly premium for that for family is $402(what we pay. Company pays an additional $1,600). Deductible is $5,000 and out of pocket limit is &7,700. We are on HSA plan and monthly premium is $93(again the company is paying roughly an additional $1,600). Out of pocket limit is 10 K. I did have a daughter who broke a femur last year. We had about 75k in bills(which is crazy!). Insurance picked up 70k of it and I had to pay 5k from my HSA account.

I like the whole HSA concept. It makes you pay more attention to the process and bills. I'm saving money most years and the tax benefits are considerable with the HSA. You have to understand that most years you are going to be paying most medical bills and the insurance only kicks in big years.

 

[Dandy]

My "employee + family plan" costs $23.50 per paycheck or $564 per year.

Edit to note: I have not "sold my soul" to work for a big company either. We have about 2000 employees spread across five states. The office I work in has less than 20 people. You don't have to sell your soul for benefits. You just have to get into the right company.

Second edit: The employee only plan costs $0 per paycheck or $0 per year. I pay $23.50 for my wife and one kid. If we have more kids I am pretty sure the cost does not go up.

 

[mred]

To add another data point: I'm on a high-deductible family plan that costs $1600 per month. I only pay $288 per month (18%) -- my employer pays the remainder PLUS $2k per year into my HSA. They contribute to my HSA to reward me for the cost savings they get from me selecting the high-deductible plan.

 

[mred]

If there's a choice between a high-deductible plan (HDHP) and a richer plan, the HDHP will generally be priced at a bit of a discount even after taking into account the dollar amount of the differences in coverage. That's because HDHPs tend to attract healthier people when there's an option between the two.

 

[cyphoon]

During open enrollment in January, I had the choice of paying $329 per month for a high deductible HSA plan or $420 per month for a more comprehensive PPO plan. These were the premiums to cover the entire family. Went with the HSA after putting together a spreadsheet to compare the two.

H

 

[mred]

when do we switch to the higher deductible plan for a lower monthly payment? I'm really getting stressed out here.

If you are relatively healthy, you may want to take the high-deductible plan and save some of the difference in price as a rainy day fund in case something happens. An HSA is ideal, but even if that's not available (and I believe you said it wasn't) it could be the best option.

EDIT: I think you said your wife has no single+kids option. Do you? Doing an HSA with single+kids and having her be on a single plan might be good. Also, I didn't take into account your $100 credit. Generally speaking, you may want to go with whatever combination gives you the lowest monthly premium, regardless of the benefits (unless there are health issues in your family).

 

[Clonefan32]

My wife got a full time job with a school district and it's been the absolute best thing. I bet we save almost $8,000 a year in the difference between our coverage through her compared to what we had through my small business.

 

[1100011CS]

I work for a large company. We pay ~$700/mo for a family plan. But, we have a lot of medical issues so have the lower deductible plan.

Edit: double-checked... we're closer to $800/mo with dental and vision

 

[cycloner29]

6500 deductible each. 3 family members. 1700 monthly. Suck it Obama Care!

My company screwed itself on health insurance plan a few years ago (before I started there). I work for a 14 employee company, they pay for 80% of my monthly rate but wife and two kids it still is $1,800 month. I negotiated a higher salary after I started my job to cover this as they were not very forth coming with health care costs at the time. $2,000 individual and $7,250 deductibles. $40 copay for each Dr. visit. It friggen sucks!!

 

[HFCS]

Not trying to turn into a debate but it seems people are throwing around a lot of #s and nobody is mentioning what % the employer is paying.

The people who are saying they pay $18 or $60 a month with no additional detail, we actually have no idea what their coverage actually costs. The people paying $1300 a month I would hope that means they are paying 40% or more of the plan themselves. For example I work for a small company (20 employees) and pay about $350 a month for a gold plan covering two people which is 20% of the total cost of the plan. I used to work for a similar small company, had a similar plan with worse pricing, and paid $800/mo for two people which was 40% of the cost.

I think a lot of people make career moves without considering this, I think some people barely even realize the % an employer pays can wildly affect their take home pay regardless of the coverage they have. It was a $5400 raise for me going from 40% to 20% with similar coverage. Some have been saying you need to work for a huge corporation which on average does mean they pay for a larger %, but some small businesses will cover a lot more than others. The company I was paying 40% at started out covering 90% of my policy and as the company struggled they reduced the % they paid over the years.

 

[HFCS]

My company screwed itself on health insurance plan a few years ago (before I started there). I work for a 14 employee company, they pay for 80% of my monthly rate but wife and two kids it still is $1,800 month. I negotiated a higher salary after I started my job to cover this as they were not very forth coming with health care costs at the time. $2,000 individual and $7,250 deductibles. $40 copay for each Dr. visit. It friggen sucks!!

That's insane. I feel for you man.

This is actually the type of detail I was talking about, I mean I know exactly how you are getting F'd. In your case it isn't that you're employer is f'ing you by the % they cover, it seems like they just have a wildly overpriced plan.

 

[AgronAlum]

Around 400 per month for the full family which is health, dental, vision and life on everyone. Deductible is 125 per adult and 125 combined for kids. Rx deductible is 100. Max out of pocket is 4 percent of your salary.

 

[1100011CS]

Not trying to turn into a debate but it seems people are throwing around a lot of #s and nobody is mentioning what % the employer is paying.

The people who are saying they pay $18 or $60 a month with no additional detail, we actually have no idea what their coverage actually costs. The people paying $1300 a month I would hope that means they are paying 40% or more of the plan themselves. For example I work for a small company (20 employees) and pay about $350 a month for a gold plan covering two people which is 20% of the total cost of the plan. I used to work for a similar small company, had a similar plan with worse pricing, and paid $800/mo for two people which was 40% of the cost.

I think a lot of people make career moves without considering this, I think some people barely even realize the % an employer pays can wildly affect their take home pay regardless of the coverage they have. It was a $5400 raise for me going from 40% to 20% with similar coverage. Some have been saying you need to work for a huge corporation which on average does mean they pay for a larger %, but some small businesses will cover a lot more than others. The company I was paying 40% at started out covering 90% of my policy and as the company struggled they reduced the % they paid over the years.

But that's not the question. He's asking what others are paying (and the coverage) not what the cost is to the employer.

 

[HFCS]

But that's not the question. He's asking what others are paying (and the coverage) not what the cost is to the employer.

When 90% of the posts aren't mentioning what % the employer pays we have no idea if any of these plans are actually well priced or not. A few posts ago the guy mentioned he only pays 20% but the cost is still outrageous. Other posters "I pay $400" and we have absolutely no clue what their plan actually costs.

It gets into the big picture of why this is a difficult political issue. People don't even understand the full cost of their coverage at the most basic level. I don't blame people, life is hard and we're busy. It's an overly complex structure to pay for something. Without knowing the % people are paying for their plans we really aren't getting what is probably the key piece of information to know if they should look for a new job.

One of the earliest posts said they were paying $1300 for a family. I can't give them advice...no one should give them advice...without knowing what % of the cost of the plan that is. Honestly we should know what their salary is. Some employers pay a low % but pay high salaries, it could be worth it. I get people wouldn't post their salaries but we can't understand their company without knowing what % of the plan they pay.

If a company has a horrible plan while covering 80% they can switch plans and you save. It's at least a possibility. If a company is only paying 40-50% you're kind of F'd no matter what change they are going to make.

 

[danielyp29]

how much of the health insurance do your employees cover? the company I work for (30,000+ employees) has a section in our paycheck with "employer contribution", and it ends up being only about 60-65% (full family vs single covg) of the high deductible plan, resulting in little over $300/month for my wife and I.

 

[khardbored]

I work for a large company and pay $338 monthly for health premiums (alone) -- $388 monthly if you add dental & vision. It's a high deductible plan, family (me, wife, kids). The deductible is $4,000, and the employer contributes $1,000 annually to my HSA, which offsets that some (so I think of it as a "net" deductible of $3,000).

I have found that High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP's) are best if you use very little medical care or a whole lot of health care. We are in the latter group due to a family member with a health condition -- we don't ask "if" we will plow through the deductible, we ask "when" -- and it's usually March or April. So, while we're writing checks like crazy at the beginning of the year, when I do the math, over the course of a whole year, it's actually cheaper for a HDHP vs. a traditional PPO plan (the only other plan my employer offers). Part of this is because with my company's HDHP, they let you combine health & prescription costs in reaching that $4,000 deductible.

So I always "do the math" at each open enrollment assuming the worst case scenario, taking premiums, expenses, deductible, etc into consideration, and every year for 6+ years, the HDHP has beat the PPO plan.

While my plan isn't the best, and isn't the worst (somewhere in the middle for an employee plan), it's still far better than if I were self-employed. So I agree with others that this is an advantage of working for a big company. I make just over $50K annually, and figure if I wanted to go self-employed some day (which I do), I need to make $75K annually (at least - probably more) to hit "break even" when considering health insurance, vision, dental, 401K match, the 7.5% FICA not matched, etc.).

 

[CycloneDaddy]

One positive at working at Iowa State (and the ISU Foundation) is the health insurance coverage. A little over $100 per month per family with no deductible.

No wonder they call me all the time asking for more money.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

When 90% of the posts aren't mentioning what % the employer pays we have no idea if any of these plans are actually well priced or not. A few posts ago the guy mentioned he only pays 20% but the cost is still outrageous. Other posters "I pay $400" and we have absolutely no clue what their plan actually costs.

It gets into the big picture of why this is a difficult political issue. People don't even understand the full cost of their coverage at the most basic level. I don't blame people, life is hard and we're busy. It's an overly complex structure to pay for something. Without knowing the % people are paying for their plans we really aren't getting what is probably the key piece of information to know if they should look for a new job.

One of the earliest posts said they were paying $1300 for a family. I can't give them advice...no one should give them advice...without knowing what % of the cost of the plan that is. Honestly we should know what their salary is. Some employers pay a low % but pay high salaries, it could be worth it. I get people wouldn't post their salaries but we can't understand their company without knowing what % of the plan they pay.

If a company has a horrible plan while covering 80% they can switch plans and you save. It's at least a possibility. If a company is only paying 40-50% you're kind of F'd no matter what change they are going to make.

Exactly. And those that are saying they are 'fortunate' that their employer offers a great plan, guess what? You're also now 'stuck'. That decision to leave and follow your dreams comes with a huge pricetag.

We need to pool everyone together and unbundle insurance from employment.