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Insurance question....

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  • Insurance question....

    10 years ago, when I retired from the corp world, it seemed to be fairly common that if you did not take a company's insurance package, you were compensated with a differential on your paycheck. When I worked in telecommunications, for the first 15 years, I used my husbands insurance, and each week on my paycheck I got an extra $80 that represented a portion of what the company was saving by not paying my insurance. Later, when I started using their insurance, they quit paying me that.

    Last month, I returned to the work force, due to my spouses job unexpectedly ending. I am working upper management in a large national chain. Their HR claims to have never heard of this practice. The insurance they offer is poor. My husband has found a new job, pay is poor but their insurance is cheap and great--better than what he had at the high paying job (which he had for almost 30 years).

    So, he is working for our insurance, and I am working for the money.

    Has this policy changed in the last 10 years?? Is this a result of the AHCA?? Incidentally, his company DOES still have this policy--he would get a $120 a week pay benefit if he had not taken the insurance. But, his covers better, is cheaper and only has a $1000 deductable where my company has a $7000 deductible....

  • #2
    I have met a number of people who have had similar experiences with employers offering this kind of benefit. I do believe it is one of those things that a company offers or doesn't offer at their own discretion because I know plenty of people who have never been offered such a thing.

    I have heard some chatter (don't know if its true) regarding all of the new health insurance laws that indicate this may be something employers will soon be required to do. Either you're on one of their health benefit plans or they're paying you a small sum to offset your costs while getting it elsewhere. I'm not sure if this would be relevant to current and retired employees though.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by mom-from-missouri View Post
      Has this policy changed in the last 10 years?? Is this a result of the AHCA?? Incidentally, his company DOES still have this policy--he would get a $120 a week pay benefit if he had not taken the insurance. But, his covers better, is cheaper and only has a $1000 deductable where my company has a $7000 deductible....
      DH went to work for a company in 1999--he didn't sign up for the company health ins., but he didn't get any extra to offset. When he went to his next job in 2012 he did use the fact that he already had health ins as a bargaining chip to negotiate a higher salary, but there isn't a line item in his pay slip per se so I think it is up to the company to decide.

      Originally posted by LittleMissSplendid View Post
      I have heard some chatter (don't know if its true) regarding all of the new health insurance laws that indicate this may be something employers will soon be required to do. Either you're on one of their health benefit plans or they're paying you a small sum to offset your costs while getting it elsewhere.
      That would be awesome.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Like2Plan View Post
        That would be awesome.
        I agree. Thinking back to all the jobs I had where I declined insurance it was because the company plans were way too expensive and I could have found a cheaper policy on my own. It just didn't seem fair that I had to pay totally out of my own pocket to save my employer money though.

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        • #5
          I've also seen this with many people, I know of a few that get $500. or more a month extra simply because they don't use the offered medical insurance. We asked about it with my employer because a few people would have benefited from it but they said no, the reason being that the rate they get was based on a certain number of employees and if that number dropped the insurance rate would increase.

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          • #6
            It used to be pretty standard with any company that offered benefits. For them to claim they'd never heard of this practice is silly. This company may have never done it themselves, but they have to know that other companies did, because almost any company that offered insurance had that as an option, usually because it took three to six months to qualify for benefits so meanwhile you were compensated.

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            • #7
              At jobs 1 & 3 I didn't take benefits and didn't get a pay raise, however at job #2 I was able to get a 15% raise. It's important to note that I also lost disability and PTO with this exchange. It worked out for me (I'm young and new it would be a temporary position...and I was still making slightly more than what they would pay me in PTO), but it isn't something I would do long term.

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              • #8
                My company offers flex-elect where they pay me 128 a month for not taking my employers insurance. This year we switch to my insurance but next year (Jan 2015) we are going back to her Insurance because her is cheaper than mine. Doing so, i will get back my 128 a mont extra income. Looking forward to receiving this again since it does add (although not much) but is still 1500 a year of extra Savings.
                Got debt?
                www.mo-moneyman.com

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                • #9
                  My company doesn't offer compensation for not taking benefits. Heard of some that do. I have found that the only thing that is a given is taxes. Everything else is variable / negotiable.

                  Tom
                  Last edited by corn18; 12-14-2014, 02:18 PM.

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                  • #10
                    In the last 10 years the perks have gone away, where I am they do not compensate if you don't use your insurance and in fact have increased the hoops you have to jump through to get a decent rate on what you do carry. Sign of the times and it will only get worse as employers dump staff onto the state rolls vs carrying their own plans.

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                    • #11
                      My work still pays something like $200 to drop insurance. But we have to have insurance so you can only drop if your spouse can apply theirs. It doesn't surprise me that more companies would drop their, "opt out" incentive. Seems like every company is pinching payroll in any way they can.

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