At Bank of America, a new way to pay for health insurance
Salaries will determine bank workers' contribution to medical insurance costs. Some could pay less in 2011.
At Bank of America Corp. next year, how much employees make will determine how much they pay for health insurance.The Charlotte bank has been informing its U.S. employees about the new approach, which means lower-paid workers will pay less and higher-paid ones will pay more for their coverage in 2011. Employees select their health care plans for next year in October.
Salary-tiered health insurance programs are still an "emerging trend," but an increasing number of companies are adopting this approach, human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates found last year. Less than 15 percent of employers vary employee contributions based on pay, according to the firm's 2010 database of 2,307 plans.
...Sapp, the Bank of America spokesman, declined to say whether the new approach was motivated by the health care law signed this year by President Barack Obama, but she said the bank is monitoring and evaluating any necessary changes.
Last month, the bank announced that it will expand health insurance coverage to employees' dependents up to age 26, ahead of a new government requirement...
This is the start of something big. Stalin big.
This isn't really anything new. The last two companies I've worked for have had tiered health insurance rates. That goes back at least 5 years.
ReplyDeleteWhen it first changed (I didn't change jobs, a new company took over the workplace and brought their insurance plans with them) my rates went up $7 or $8 a month. At the time I was making around $35k/year so I don't know how little you'd have to be pulling down to have your rates actually drop.
This is simply going to make sure that employees don't pay more than 9.5% of their household income for health insurance premiums and subject their employers to fines.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/07/ohio_hamburger_chain_says_insu.html
If you scale your employee-funded premiums to this percentage, than possibly no fines? Who knows.