There are two ways that employees share in the cost of the group insurance program - through their payroll deduction to obtain coverage and through their obligation to pay deductibles and co-payments at the time of service.
Survey data indicates that the percentage of employee-only coverage paid by the employer has hovered around 80% for the last fifteen years. Therefore, employees electing single coverage contribute about 20% of the total premium.
The same survey data shows that employers have modestly scaled back on their subsidy of family coverage over the same time period. Today, employers generally contribute 65% to 75% toward the total cost of providing "employee, plus one dependent" and/or "family" coverage.
With so many dual-income families, employers are employing strategies to discourage enrollment in their plan when a working spouse has access to coverage through their own employer.
National Health Care Reform has created a variety of rules relating to “grandfathering” of benefit plans as of March 23, 2010 (the effective date of the law), and future employee contributions are influenced by whether your plan maintains grandfathered status.
C.M. Smith can examine your demographics and help you craft a contribution strategy to balance the employer cost obligation with logical employee contributions, while keeping in balance with your Post-Heath Care Reform situation.