Yes, this is perfectly legal. Health reform allows insurers to charge tobacco users up to 50 percent more than non-tobacco users. Employers can pass these rates through to the employees. In addition, employers can reward non-smoker plan members through a wellness program. Members who smoke and do not do any other wellness activity can be charged up to 20 percent more.
The employer does not have to pay for the spouse's coverage. It can be offered to the employee and the cost taken from his/her paycheck to cover the spouse. There is no legal requirement for the employer to offer coverage for spouses -- even at the employee's expense. However, it would be very unusual for a plan to cover only employees and not have coverage available for spouses and children.
ofcourse!
No. The employer cannot force you not to take the coverage. However, if you don't want you may have to sign a waiver.
My employer requires that my husband participate in his company's health insurance or they will drop him from their insurance. Insurance is a choice offered as a benefit by the employer because the employer is paying a portion of the cost to be insured. You do not have to participate if you don't want to. Also, the question being answered is that can an employer force an employee's spouse to take coverage offered elsewhere: NO. If a company offers a family health plan, they CANNOT specify that a spouse take other insurance if available. They CAN require that if you are declining coverage from them (your own employer), that you show you have coverage elsewhere.
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No. Federal Law (ERISA) does not require that health benefits are offered at all. They can make those restrictions if they want to.
No, it is not illegal. If it is a group plan (through an employer), the employee could submit the enrollment change without the spouse's signature. The employer or insurer would not question it, since he or she is still married to the person. The spouse would know that he or she had been dropped when a COBRA notice arrives, assuming the employer offers COBRA coverage.
Assuming the employer offers coverage to spouses, then the employer would not have the right to turn a spouse away. The spouse's loss of coverage is a "qualifying event" and the employer's insurer would allow the spouse to join.
Spousal carve out is when an employer has a provision in their health insurance plan by which they deny coverage of an employee's spouse if he/she qualifies for, whether declined by him/her or not, coverage under another plan.
They can choose not to provide coverage for a spouse. US law states employers have to provide insurance for employee's children under the age of 26, but does not say anything about spouses, so they can choose to stop covering employee's spouses.
I don't know about the legal ramifications but as a general rule, if an employee goes to his HR dept and asks to have his spouse and dependents removed from his health insurance policy they will do so without question. I don't think the employer has any obligation to require the employee prove they have the right to do so.
Generally insurance coverage should be offered to an employees spouse. It does not matter if they are offered coverage from their employer whereas it provides an additional option in case 1 plan is more affordable than the other.