oh god kids are expensive even if they arent mine.

April 1, 2012 1:48 PM

How does your company structure the amount employees pay towards their health benefits?

Hi All,

I'm the benefits coordinator for a small (less than 20) company, and I'm currently trying to work out a plan for how much we cover/how much the employee pays when it comes to health insurance preimums. When we started we were all young and single, and now with families in the mix...things are getting expensive. I'm looking at doing a straight employee pays 75%/employee pays 25% for all single/employee + spouse/family, which works pretty well...until you get to family, which is four times as much as single rates, and are a serious chunk of change. I also considered doing we cover the employee, everyone else additional is for you to pay for...but again, that just seemed too much to make our employees pay, but after looking at a previous question, maybe $600 a month really is the going rate?

Possible other good info: We will also be offering dental, vision, and probably life/long/short disability. These are all pocket change in comparison, so I'm not too worried about those, but would probably keep the matrix the same for dental/vision

So, my questions:
-How does your company structure things? Is it a % across the board?
- As a family, what do you anticipate paying for insurance per month? I know it will also depend on what type of coverage you are getting- right now we are looking at doing an HRA and a PPO, the HRA ($2,000 deductible) we would cover some of the deductible, and the PPO is pretty fantastic.
- How do you feel about it? What would you consider a fair matrix?
-While family is the biggest question in my mind, I would love to hear from singles/ employee+ spouses too on their rates.
- Is there any general numbers out there for this kind of thing? My google-fu failed me earlier, but I might not have had the right keywords.

Thanks!

posted by zara to Work & Money (14 answers total)

I'm looking at doing a straight employee pays 75%/employee pays 25% for all single/employee + spouse/family

I think you mean 75% employer/25% employee?

My work, a small non-profit, does 80% employer/20% employee for the healthcare and then we also have dental/disability paid for in full.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 1:54 PM on April 1, 2012

Response by poster: Argh, yes, employer pays 75%, employee 25%. Sorry about the typo.
posted by zara at 1:58 PM on April 1, 2012

My small nonprofit (13 employees) only asks that employees pay a pitance (between $25 and $35 per month for single, couple, family) on the health care premium. We don't offer dental or vision, we do offer 100% paid life and short/long term disability.

One of the ways that we have saved a significant amount of money is through self insurance. We have a fairly high deductible/copay on the health, but we cover that 100% for the employees. The premium on the high copay/deductible ends up being cheaper than the premium on a no copay/deductible plan. We also self insure our RX plan. You might want to ask your agent to look into creative ways to cut costs other than asking for more premium money.

We also shop our insurance every couple of years, we just changed from one major insurer to another and saved about 20% in premium costs.
posted by HuronBob at 2:09 PM on April 1, 2012

I work for an unnamed GlobalHyperMegaCorp that offers pretty solid bennies.

They offer a bunch of different plans (HMO, PPO, alternative), with a choice of providers in the major categories.

But in the end, they offer two tiers - the single rate, and the family rate. I haven't looked recently, but I remember the family rate being 2-4x more expensive.

FWIW, the GlobalHyperMegaCorp plans I used to be on with my ex-wife were similar. Based on the COBRA rates I was quoted, the companies were paying 80-90%.
posted by swngnmonk at 2:19 PM on April 1, 2012

I work for a very large company, and employee contributions to the plan of your choice (out of 6-7 choices, from a very cheap high-deductible with HSA to total coverage options) are scaled based on salary- those making less pay less, those making more pay more.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:38 PM on April 1, 2012

My non-profit (which is has an international humanitarian focus) pays 100% for employees. Spouse/partner is $100 a month the first 2 years they are on the plan, $50 a month during years 3 and 4, and $25 a month starting the fifth year. I don't know what it is for family members. We have a PPO, and vision is part of the coverage. Dental is $6 a month for employees and family members.
posted by kimdog at 3:06 PM on April 1, 2012

Best answer: I worked for a benefits broker and this set-up was common:

Paid by the employer for medical/dental/vision
75-90% of the EE Only Cost
50-75% of the Dependent Cost

Disability & Basic life are usually paid 100% by the employer. $600 a month for family coverage would NOT be unusual at all. Sadly...
posted by magnetsphere at 5:04 PM on April 1, 2012

I don't have any numbers for you, but an interesting wrinkle - I know of one company (a nonprofit) where the employee's health insurance is mostly paid for, but the employee's spouse cannot get coverage unless s/he signs a form saying s/he cannot get coverage through his or her job. That probably reduces the healthcare cost to the nonprofit. I have no idea if that kind of set-up is legal in every state.
posted by insectosaurus at 5:44 PM on April 1, 2012

I have fairly crappy health insurance coverage (but better than none!) at a small company (24ish employees).
Employer pays 50% for employee only. PPO and HMO options are offered.
Employee pays 100% of the premium for spouse/children/family.
posted by Glinn at 5:48 PM on April 1, 2012

I am at a 30 person company. Company pays 100% of employee's health insurance with no company contribution to family. I pay about $420/month to cover my wife and kiddo. Copays are $40. I am in my mid-30's and the third oldest employee.
posted by Jacob G at 6:05 PM on April 1, 2012

Best answer: This annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing provisions, and other relevant information.

This survey's been done by the organization I work for (a not-for-profit) for many, many years. I don't have anything to do with its survey design or analysis. It looks at a range of trends, current and across years.

This chart shows "Average Monthly and Annual Premiums for Covered Workers, by Plan Type and Firm Size, 2011", for instance. There's truckloads more. Hope this helps.
posted by rtha at 6:36 PM on April 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

(I thought percentage based contributions weren't legal in the US? Thought it had to be the same for everyone, with the same coverages available for everyone.)

Anyway, my company charges $74 a month for single, $100-ish for +1 dependent, and $250-ish for 2 or more dependents (family). For a pretty good PPO plan.
posted by gjc at 7:30 PM on April 1, 2012

My husband's company (roughly 70 employees) pays 75% of the employee and 50% of the family premium for a BC/BS PPO with slightly higher copays than the norm. ($35 office and $65 specialist) our premiums are between $500-600 a month.
posted by hollygoheavy at 7:45 PM on April 1, 2012

For my employer, you can see employee contributions and the full cost, as billed to COBRA insurance recipients, for each of the various plan and family insured status combinations offered.
posted by grouse at 10:20 PM on April 1, 2012