Is anyone else losing spouse coverage?

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I am an LPN in a Florida nursing home. I received a letter that they are dropping spouse coverage on April 1. My husband is retired and not eligible for Medicare or health insurance elsewhere. We have been getting quotes of $800 to 900 a month. Does anyone know if this is a trend in nursing homes? What about home health care? I will need to change jobs, but the insurance is an important factor. Any input is appreciated.

Specializes in Critical Care.
Source?

Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Health Insurance Exchanges

There are a few other plan comparison sites as well, sort of like Kayak for health insurance.

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Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Health Insurance Exchanges

There are a few other plan comparison sites as well, sort of like Kayak for health insurance.

This does not answer my question, so I'll ask it again. In a previous post you stated the following:

You might benefit from a little more research on this. If you're already prepared for retirement and you're just basically trying to find a job just for the benefits then you're actually in luck since you'll qualify for a subsidy; a silver plan will cost you about $15/month or about $150/month for a Gold plan (and you can retire now).

Please provide a source for this particular statement.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
This does not answer my question, so I'll ask it again. In a previous post you stated the following:

Please provide a source for this particular statement.

The previous link is the source.

You pick state, in her case Florida, enter age (58-62), enter income (taxable income in retirement is pretty low, I think I put in $15,000 to $20,000 to be generous).

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I worked at Walmart as a cashier for years and the food stamp portion of an ebt card can not be used for anything other than food, it would deduct the food items from the bill and their remaining balance would be for the non food items. There's no way to override what is rung up as food and what is not in the system. Ebt stands for electronic benefits transfer and someone could possibly have cash benefits on their card. I had a friend that had an ebt card that had food stamps and cash on her card, she qualified for a state program that gave her a little extra money to help pay bills etc while we were in nursing school. The money went straight onto her ebt card and she could use it just like an ATM/debit card. When the state took her ex's tax refund for back child support it was put on her card too. This was several years ago but, I'm sure things basically work the same way. My husband was on unemployment a few years ago and his unemployment benefits were put on an ebt type card. Just because you see someone use a ""ebt""card for non food purchases don't assume they are trying to scam the system. In my experience from years working as a cashier some people do try to play the system when it comes to their benefits but, most don't.

Never knew that, I thought EBT was just a food stamp card, probably like many people were thinking. Now we know that even if an EBT card is used to buy a TV, not to make assumptions.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Hubby's job does not offer health insurance. I pay about $800 per month for insurance for 2 adults. PCP visit is $20, specialist visit is $40, ER copay is $250, and drops to $100 if you're admitted. Out of pocket max is $5,000 in-network, $10,000 out of network.

I met with an Obamacare navigator a few months ago. Since my employer's cheapest plan (a high-deductible plan) is considered affordable, and my employer offers insurance, I'm not eligible for a subsidy, so switching to an Obamacare plan won't save me any money. However, it turns out my kids may qualify for Medicaid. We won't really know until we do our taxes. It would be far cheaper than going on a family plan. I've been working since I was 11, and I refuse to feel bad about using a system I've been paying into for more than 25 years.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Hubby's job does not offer health insurance. I pay about $800 per month for insurance for 2 adults. PCP visit is $20 specialist visit is $40, ER copay is $250, and drops to $100 if you're admitted. Out of pocket max is $5,000 in-network, $10,000 out of network. I met with an Obamacare navigator a few months ago. Since my employer's cheapest plan (a high-deductible plan) is considered affordable, and my employer offers insurance, I'm not eligible for a subsidy, so switching to an Obamacare plan won't save me any money. However, it turns out my kids may qualify for Medicaid. We won't really know until we do our taxes. It would be far cheaper than going on a family plan. I've been working since I was 11, and I refuse to feel bad about using a system I've been paying into for more than 25 years.[/quote']

That's what it's there for; when there is a will it may be a way! :yes:

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Specializes in psych.
Here are my numbers for a family of 4: Large well known insurance company through employer contribution is approx $100 per week. Free well exams, $25 co-pays for sick visits, $50 for specialists, $1000 deductible for inpatient stays, $100 for ED visits which are waived if admitted. RX's $10/$25/$50. I can not even fathom affording $14,000 per year for health insurance plus high deductibles. The insurance is through spouses employer in MA. He is not in healthcare and his employer pays 80% of the health insurance cost plus his weekly cost is taken out pre-tax. I think the key to affordability is his employer contributions to the health insurance costs. Many of the other company "benefits" aren't very beneficial but the health insurance makes it worth it. I contemplated adding family dental through my employer, since his work does not offer dental, but the weekly cost was almost as high as what he pays for health coverage. Its crazy to here what people are forced to pay for insurance.[/quote']

Gabby RN, my numbers were almost the same until my husband was hit by a drunk driver and forced to retire...resulting in us loosing insurance. Now we're having to decide whether to go with ACA or hold out until I graduate in May. Its a bit confusing since he will start getting disability Medicaid in two months. The hospitals here offer good family insurance. The insurance we had through my husbands job (local sheriffs department) for a family of 2 or more (once you got past two dependents, it didn't cost any extra for additional) was awesome. It was 500 a month. With $25 copays and specialist, $250 ER and hospital admitting copay. RX was 10/20/50. And there were no deductibles, just those copays. It really saved us a ton of money over the years. My husband had a spinal fusion plus 8 additional back surgeries, hospitalized for a week with a nasty MRSA infection, hospitalized for various broken bones and other injuries....and we paid almost nothing out of pocket. Government jobs don't always pay great, but they make up for them with really good benefits.

Maybe the OP could look into a government job. I have some friends that work for the VA, and those LPN's make way more than the hospitals plus get really good insurance.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
Hubby's job does not offer health insurance. I pay about $800 per month for insurance for 2 adults. PCP visit is $20, specialist visit is $40, ER copay is $250, and drops to $100 if you're admitted. Out of pocket max is $5,000 in-network, $10,000 out of network.

I met with an Obamacare navigator a few months ago. Since my employer's cheapest plan (a high-deductible plan) is considered affordable, and my employer offers insurance, I'm not eligible for a subsidy, so switching to an Obamacare plan won't save me any money. However, it turns out my kids may qualify for Medicaid. We won't really know until we do our taxes. It would be far cheaper than going on a family plan. I've been working since I was 11, and I refuse to feel bad about using a system I've been paying into for more than 25 years.

We frequently hear vehement criticism from posters here that Wal-Mart and other entry-level employers are unfairly forcing taxpayers to subsidize their employees wages and/or benefits with welfare, Medicaid, WIC, etc. I'm curious to hear these posters' comments on your family's possible eligibility for the same.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Home health nurses are notoriously underpaid. I make less than a hospital CNA. Home health aides make even less. As long as I've been at my job, they have told employees how to sign up for Medicaid.

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Losing spouse coverage? I've never even had a job that OFFERED spouse coverage! Is this like that mystical "employer will match what you save for retirement" my father used to talk about? Never seen that either...

ETA: I do feel bad you are losing your spousal coverage, OP. Sorry about the snark - I know it's not helpful to you when you are struggling to decide what to do next.

Just reading this post after several others about generational gaps really reinforced to me the differences in what employers can get away with offering. The Almighty Dollar is king, and providing for employees is low on many companies' priority list. Ties back into what Ruby Vee was discussing on another thread about chronic job hopping -- why should any employee provide loyalty to a company that won't provide loyalty (or any benefits beyond the bare minimum) to them?

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Specializes in Critical Care.
We frequently hear vehement criticism from posters here that Wal-Mart and other entry-level employers are unfairly forcing taxpayers to subsidize their employees wages and/or benefits with welfare, Medicaid, WIC, etc. I'm curious to hear these posters' comments on your family's possible eligibility for the same.

In general, there are no "entry-level employers", employers have entry level-positions. I get the impression you consider the entire service/retail industry to be "entry-level". And while there may be entry-level home health nurse positions, I don't consider the entire home-health Nursing occupation to be entry-level.

I am opposed to businesses increases their profits by essentially shifting money from taxpayers by not paying the basic costs of employing someone, but I don't place the blame on the employees themselves.

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Dead on Shilla. Obama is not implementing any more of the ACA until after the 2016 elections. I can't imagine why.

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