Group health Insurance? What if my emplyer doesn't offer the best group health insurance?

Question

Hi

In my last job, my employer offered quite good group health insurance but my new employer doesn't.

The cover they are providing does not offer many benefits and would not cover me if I was to have a bad accident which meant I had to take time off work or go into hospital.

Do they have to provide group health insurance or not?

Answer 1

There are many places to buy insurance other than through your employer. It will most likely be more expensive but you will be able to get a better plan.

I think most maybe all states require employers of larger companies to offer medical insurance. There are no laws that would make them offer GOOD insurance, though.

Answer 2

No, they aren't required to provide any type of insurance at all, except workers comp.

You can always look for another job.

Answer 3

No, they do not.

Answer 4

They are offering it, but you don't have to take it.  

If you don't like their group health insurance coverage, then you can search for options on the individual market.

An option you may have is to negotiate with your employer.  Ask if they will instead allocate the funds normally used to pay for your portion of the group insurance to you.  You can apply those monies to your individual plan.  And if you ever leave the job, you won't have their help paying the premium, but you will have the better insurance.

If they won't help, then you have to decide whether it is worth buying insurance on your own.

You can view some health insurance quotes here:

http://www.ohioinsureplan.com/index.php/...

Answer 5

If you vote for Hillary then you will have access to the same coverage that Senators have with low deductibles and co-payments.

Answer 6

Hi Jane

As has been stated by a couple of other people, your employer is obliged, I believe, to provide some sort of insurance cover. When it comes to the level of cover of any health insurance plan they provide, there are no fast rules.

Whilst my employer provides group health insurance for employees, I was advised from the start to consider taking out my own personal health insurance policy.

A few of my fellow co-workers tried talking me out of it as they said it was just extra expense for no reason. No reason!? How can protecting one's life be no reason? OK I was fortunate enough to be able to afford to take out some extra health insurance.

If that is something that you think you can afford to do, I would recommend taking out some form of extra cover on top of what little cover your employer is providing.

It is far better to be safe than sorry. Don't just take any health insurance quote that is thrown at you though. Shop around for quotes and talk to the insurance rep to see exactly what you are going to get for your money.

Hope this helps?

Thx

Neil

Answer 7

They don't have to provide GOOD insurance.  Actually, they might not have to provide it at all.  But the trick is, if they do offer it, it has to be available to all full time employees.

Insurance keeps getting more and more pricey, so often employers deal with it by buying packages that are more and more trimmed down.

Icky, ain't it?  I keep wondering why we're they only industrialized ("first-world") country that hasn't been able to figure out how to provide health care for all.