health insurance

smarker · November 2003

We are approaching our renewal time for our group health insurance. We are trying to come up with ways to make the premiums more affordable for the different tiers we offer.

We currently offer a plan that allows employees to choose from the following tiers:
employee only
employee spouse
employee child(ren)or
full family

The company pays a set $ amount towards the monthly premium for each tier.

Can we run into discrimination issues if the company would pay a higher dollar amount for the family tiers vs. the employee only. (i.e. the company pay $100 for the monthly premium of an employee only, but pays $125 for the full family)

Hunter1 · November 2003

I don't believe there would be a problem unless there's some state regulation. Many employers contribute more for family or other combination plans than they do for single coverage.

DeidreFR5 · November 2003

We pay a different but equivalent amount - 70% of the least expensive package. We then pay that dollar amount towards other packages (we have a HMO, PPO and Indemnity plan).

lnelson · November 2003

I am in process of our open enrollment also, our broker recommended some minor changes to the plan which offered a decrease premium of approx. 10%

We offer HMO & PPO for both med & dental. The HMO is hard to change because you want it to be cost effective for both ee and er.
But the PPO we were able to change because the current plan offered was very generous as far as no deductible. We currently changed to a 250 ded.

We usually pay the single rate and the ee then pays for the dependants coverage.

stilldazed · November 2003

We're in Florida and for health insurance offer HMO & PPO, employee only and family only (no emp/ch or emp/sp). Our company tells us that if we add any more tiers, the cost of the full family policy would price out of the affordability range. I guess that essentially means that there is some level of subsidy going on. We pay 10% more of the premium for family coverage than the single policy, but we also have some other variations depending on job class. During our last open enrollment, I discussed my concern about risks from potential discriminatory practices because of the pricing and levels our organization funds, and our broker advised that insurance benefits is an area where an employer can have variations in place, depending on nonpersonal criteria, such as job class or family structure, without a significant risk of discrimination.

I'm interested in knowing whether anyone has any information contrary to that.

bamahr · November 2003

We have the same tiers of coverage and pay more for our family plans than any other. I think it would be like someone taking coverage and someone else waiving it - you don't have to give them the difference in the coverage they are waiving.

Carolsmith · November 2003

Our company has the same type of program - we pay a % of the premiums, (the % being the same for each group.) that way it is fair to everyone.

health insurance

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