why is it so expensive to add a spouse to my companies group health insurance?

Question

basically, my company pays 100% of my coverage, which is 153, but, to add my wife, it is like 300 additional (out of my pocket) as the company doesnt pay any toward spouse/family

that is just for her the 300

this is flat rate, it doesnt matter her age according to our HR dept

this isnt meant to sound like im being an *** here, but you guys are missing the point, these are set #'s, they do not base it on health for spouse, it is just based on age, which btw for both of us is under the category of 26-30, all i wanted to know was why the insurance company only charges 153 for me, but for an additional person it is almost twice as much (approx 300 IN ADDITION to the 153 that the company pays for), usually to add a 2nd to anything it is less than the first one!

i understand why the company doesnt pay for spouse relatives, and it actually has nothing to do with the fact they dont work for them, it is financial (see above!) they are hoping to offer it soon (family insurance paid for also).

in above i had misspoken, it IS based on age, but not health

Answer 1

So, you understand that the company only pays for your coverage and not your spouse. That is your responsibility. Now let's figure out why hers is so much more than yours

In many states, like CT - where I work, insurance companies are allowed to apply gender when computing premiums. Single guys use their insurance less than single girls. Whey you look at your single premium ($153) and think it would be double for 2 people, you would be wrong. If you look at a single female's premium, you would see that is is significantly higher - my guess is that it is about $300. Therefore, when you have a young couple, one male and one female, you end up with a $453 monthly premium. Of that premium, your boss pays your $153 and you are responsible for the difference.

Depending on the size of your employer and your state's laws, you can have composite rates that would have all singles paying the same price, regardless of age, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.

I don't think your wife's medical history has anything to do with the cost of her coverage either. In Ct, the rates are community based, not on the health of the insured. This may be the case where you live also.

I believe the gender-based rate structure is the culprit here.

Answer 2

You didn't mention how old you and your spouse are. Based on your rate of $153, it sounds like you are in perfect health. If your wife has what is considered a pre-existing condition, her rate will be 2-3 times higher than yours. Some insurance companies go back as far as 3 years to determine if one's health is going to be a liability to the insurance company. If your wife has been and/or is on medication for a health problem, that's a red flag to the insurance company that there will be ongoing future medical expenses. Bottom line, insurance companies are in business to make a profit. If an insured is going to cost them money, they are going to get as much from the insured as possible to cut some of their losses and the rest is spread out across the group in increased rates in the future.

Answer 3

The bottom line is that your company has an interest in your health... not your wife's. They're going to lose money if you're sick and out of work, so they're willing to pay part (or all, in your case) of your premium.
As for why it's so much more ($300 vs $153) to add her, I'm not sure. That doesn't make much sense. Is that for spousal coverage only, or is that for spouse/dependent?

Answer 4

If that's the way the policy and the company are, then that's the way it is. What do you want us to do about it? Rhetorical. It costs money to have insurance. Period. I suspect, however, that your wife has some sort of pre-existing condition or is of an age where health insurance generally costs more. And hey, here's an idea. Why not talk it over with HR at work and find out!

Answer 5

There are a number of reasons why inner maximum insurance would desire to be seen high priced (maximum regulations are extremely lifelike, surely, and fee an identical or under what a central authority-run plan might fee). One is that the U.S. has the superb experienced and geared up docs and hospitals interior the international. That coaching and medical progression expenses money and those expenses are surpassed directly to the folk, as they could be. yet another is that the U.S. leads the international in drug advent and progression. lower back, somebody has to %. up the tab. If the government paid for all of it, we would purely be paying greater taxes. as that's, the folk who pay for the medicine are those utilising them, no longer those no longer utilising them, because it may well be under a central authority equipment. yet one extra reason is that federal rules restrict inner maximum insurance companies from working in the time of state strains. this boundaries opposition, and constrained opposition helps greater expenses. ultimately, each wellness practitioner and nurse is afraid of being sued by utilising sufferers. to cover their butts, they order each attainable try to scientific look after what are regularly undemanding circumstances. the final element they are able to arise with the money for is a misdiagnosis as an undemanding mistake and the affected person coming lower back with a criminal expert and using them out of commercial. That is going for hospitals, too. the two the fee of all of the unneeded treatments and the fee of the malpractice insurance additionally force up wellness expenses.

Answer 6

My husbands is like that also. Most of the time what happens is you are jumped up to a family plan. I could have 5 kids and my insurance rate would stay the same, or I could have none. If you have one person you are considered individual but two or more is a family. There is no in between with most coverage.

Answer 7

its because they want you to be a healthy productive worker. your spouse does not work for them, so they have no incentive to cover her, or help out at all. its about the economics of how you contribute to the company.

Answer 8

Spouses are parasites to a company....they want to encourage them to get their own company insurrance.