Employers want to attract workers, and sometimes pay alone isn't enough. To sweeten the pot, they add benefits, like insurance, vacation pay, or sick days. The insurance that is offered is owned by the company itself, and not the employees who purchase it. The company will also usually pay for some of the cost of that insurance. It is only offered to you as long as you are employed there, and once you leave, unless you opt to pay COBRA prices for it, it ends when your employment does. If you have more questions, please hit the link to contact me, I'd be happy to answer them for you. Thanks for asking!
Co-Founder, TermInsuranceBrokers.com, Goldenzweig Financial Group, Las Vegas, Nevada
Your health insurance is only tied to your job if you are covered by a group insurance plan through your employer. You always have the option to purchase an individual health plan on or off the health insurance exchanges.
The big advantage of a group health insurance plan is that the carrier is paying for a portion of the premiums and the benefits are usually pretty competitive when compared to an individual policy. So why do carriers offer group coverage if it's a big expense to them? - It's an incentive for people to come work for them. Some companies offer other types of coverage as well such as group life insurance or group disability insurance.
The drawback is that if you left the company, you cannot take the coverage with you because the employer owns the policy. You have the option for COBRA in many instances which will allow you to continue coverage for up to 18 months. However, under the Affordable Care Act, losing group coverage would grant you a special enrollment period to buy a new individual health plan and insurance companies can no longer decline you for a pre-existing condition or other health-related illness. So, in short, you will want to compare COBRA coverage to a new individual plan - an independent health insurance agent/broker can help you with this comparison.
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The big advantage of a group health insurance plan is that the carrier is paying for a portion of the premiums and the benefits are usually pretty competitive when compared to an individual policy. So why do carriers offer group coverage if it's a big expense to them? - It's an incentive for people to come work for them. Some companies offer other types of coverage as well such as group life insurance or group disability insurance.
The drawback is that if you left the company, you cannot take the coverage with you because the employer owns the policy. You have the option for COBRA in many instances which will allow you to continue coverage for up to 18 months. However, under the Affordable Care Act, losing group coverage would grant you a special enrollment period to buy a new individual health plan and insurance companies can no longer decline you for a pre-existing condition or other health-related illness. So, in short, you will want to compare COBRA coverage to a new individual plan - an independent health insurance agent/broker can help you with this comparison.