65 % of americans not preparing for retirement.

[peakbagger]

Correct. My company pays 90% of the bill, I just the remaining 10%

That is the big problem with healthcare costs is to most working folks with benefits and politicians do not see the actual costs. Guaranteed when the employer is figuring out your pay, they factor in the "all in" cost as you as an employee which includes healthcare. Large employers also have to insure everyone so the overall risk pool size in increased which give them lower pricing per employee. They also are covering in theory somewhat healthy employed people so that means they do not have to deal with big risks like elderly or folks too unhealthy to work. Thus the difference between my Cobra rate of around $350 a month which was my employers out of pocket cost and the $1000 a month I need to pay for an ACA policy.

One of the reasons a typical middle income person's pay hasn't gone up is that the raises are just going in to pay the steep yearly healthcare increases. Get a control on healthcare costs and that means more money in everyone's pockets except for the middlemen running the costs up.

My deceased dad was a 20 year air force reservist WW2 vet. He would comment on occasion that it was the best part time job he had as with the exception of his medicare contributions his healthcare and drugs were free after age 65 and even after he passed my mom gets the same treatment. He made it to 97 so that was 32 years of coverage and expect my mom will be around for a few more.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Correct. My company pays 90% of the bill, I just the remaining 10%

Same as a payroll deduction. But you dont see it listed as such on your pay stub. I do see it (Health Care Cost)popping up on some W-2s.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Same as a payroll deduction. But you dont see it listed as such on your pay stub. I do see it (Health Care Cost)popping up on some W-2s.

My payroll deduction is only 10%. We are an employee owned company and it has been decided from the start of the company in 1985 that we have a group insurance plan and the company budgets every year the 90% of the premiums to be paid as an operational expense. So, the employee-owners actually pay 10%.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

But you would get that expense paid directly to you in the form of higher wages if your company didnt have this expense right? So its not like your paying nothing or 10%. A form of hidden cost to you. So whatever your company is paying on your behalf ,you are still paying 100%, you just dont notice it.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Same as myself being self employed. It doesnt matter if i pay my health insurance with a company check,or pay myself that money first and then pay my HC insurance with a personal check. I m still paying 100% of the cost. Which ever way is more deductible is usually the preferred method.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

But you would get that expense paid directly to you in the form of higher wages if your company didnt have this expense right? So its not like your paying nothing or 10%. A form of hidden cost to you. So whatever your company is paying on your behalf ,you are still paying 100%, you just dont notice it.

Not really, we are already above market average with our wages. In our case, it is a company culture thing. Long story.

 

[Ashful]

Not really, we are already above market average with our wages. In our case, it is a company culture thing. Long story.

Market average is also set by those same offsets. Bottom line, you are sharing the pain, whether you directly see it (payroll deduction) or not.

 

[jharkin]

My payroll deduction is only 10%. We are an employee owned company and it has been decided from the start of the company in 1985 that we have a group insurance plan and the company budgets every year the 90% of the premiums to be paid as an operational expense. So, the employee-owners actually pay 10%.

But Seasoned Oak and Peakbaggers point is that money is coming out of the same revenue pool your salary comes out of. They budget 90% and as such have less money available for raises. You would just be even more "above market average"... remember market average can vary widely... a software guy in Ohio might make 75k, while the same talent in Boston would get 150 and in the valley... 250,300 or more. (and yes I am aware most of those markets are 1%er bubbles)

Oak is right that W2's now report the company paid portion of your health plan for everyone... its an IRS requirement afaik.

My company does the same thing - I work in hi tech (software) and you probably have heard the tales of the kind of salaries Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc pay.. my company doesn't - but my health insurance is cheap like yours. I pay $250 a month for family HDHP with a $1500 per person/$3000 combined deductible ( we joke that its the low deductable high deductable plan). I give up the sililcon valley size salary for that.

The flip side is Netflix. They are famous for high pay and part of their corporate value is to "pay top of market for every position" and never loose anybody over money. But the cost of that top of market salary is they give no breaks to their employees on benefits... everything is offered at cost. ( Its also a very competitive environment where I am told the annual review process amounts to interviewing to keep you job but htats off topic)

 

[peakbagger]

The company I am transitioning out of (not by choice) is mostly engineers and technicians doing fairly technical work for the power industry. The company paid 100% of the health care costs for employees when I started, over the years due to higher costs they switched to a High Deductible Health Plan at no charge to an employee or a regular plan for a fee. I didnt mind switching to a HDHP as it gave me a way of putting tax free cash away for retirement.

Young tech companies are going to have younger workers with lower health care costs and therefore their medical costs are low. One of the big benefits that car companies have when they move south is they are hiring young staff and that means cheap health care costs for a couple of decades before folks get old and the premiums rise.