Just wanted to say, as the benefits manager for a small company, for many companies, it's not so much WHAT the company CHOOSES to pay for insurance but what they can AFFORD to cover. We try to offer the best policy to our employees that we can reasonably afford but it's hard. Large companies (with thousands or hundreds of employees) can generally get better coverage for a cheaper price because the risk is spread over so many employees. Versus a small company like ours, where a couple of really bad health risks inflate the cost for everyone. Example, until two years ago we paid $1100/month for a family plan per employee. This was during a time we were LOSING money. The problem was we had a lot of health claims for a few employees (my family included). The majority of the families used much less than $1100/month, some didn't even use their medical coverage. However, in order to make up for those of us who averaged $1000-3000/family per month in claims, the insurance company raised everyone in our plans insurance to help defray the costs. Sad fact is, only really large employers, extremely healthy groups (meaning young groups), and the government can afford decent coverage these days. Just another reason our healthcare system needs a major overhaul! And, another place where those with health issues get discriminated against. Small companies can't afford the added costs of high claims/risky employees like us.
