My experience has been the larger the company, the better the benefits. The largest companies have the power/funds/employee base to negotiate better contracts. That is probably why I have been fortunate and had 80/20 at my recent jobs. Considering that not everyone can work for a large company, that makes an argument for universal health insurance, doesn't it?


>In my experience that ratio is shifting to employees. I bet it's closer to 70/30 now. Will do some research and get back to you.
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>>I see. This time I have a PPO and previously I had an EPO. I didn't realize you were paying 100% of the premiums. I think the average for medium to large sized companies (who want to be competitive) is 80/20...
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>>>>WOW. I pay alittle more now than I did at my last job but still it is low. 37.00 every 2 weeks with a maximum out of pocket expense of 2,500.00/yr. At my last job I paid less and had no maximum out of pocket expense (they covered 100% from the get go) With my daughter on it with me it is 52.00 every 2 weeks and for a family (unlimited # of kids) around 78.00 every 2 weeks which is still 2,000/yr. Why is yours so high?
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>>>Because we're actually paying it. To be totally accurate, one of Marshal's companies (that is, of which he's an owner) is now paying our premiums, though paid them ourselves until a couple of years ago. This isn't a case of we pay some, employer pays some.
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>>>As for why it's so high at all, it's a PPO, not an HMO, and as I said, our copays are low. We actually looked at going to higher copays a couple of years back, but they no longer offer the plan we have, so it would have meant giving up some other things in terms of what drugs they cover and so forth. Once we give up this plan, we'll never be able to get it back.
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>>>I just went to check the numbers because they seems awfully high to me. (We happen to have the paperwork sitting around.) I think they're trying desperately to bump us off the plan we have. It went from $1600+ per month for 2006 to $2300+ per month for 2007. Oh, and this is without dental--we've never had that, though we do have eye care.
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>>>Tamar