Employees making low- and mid-level money can’t take on much more of the healthcare cost-sharing burden. Result? More companies are now varying employees’ health premiums based on their pay grade.
Here are two examples:
- Vanderbilt University will charge employees who make more than $50,000 a year up to $75 more a month in health premiums in 2011, according to a report by the The New York Times. For employees making less than $50K, their premiums will remain the same.
- Bank of America has also bought into this trend. Any bank employee who makes $100,000 or more a year will pay at least 14% more for coverage this upcoming year. Also, bank employees making less than $50,000 could see as much as a 50% drop in premiums — a difference the bank says it will cover.
In total, 17% of U.S. workers in large companies have premiums based on their wages, according to recent research by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s more than the 14% that did two years ago.
Is this a strategy you’d consider at your company? Share your opinions in the Comments Box below.
