Question
What is the name of your state? New York
I have healh insurance thu my employer(Community Blue).
I am a diabectic who takes insulin and pills
every day.
My deductuctable went from $10.00 to $20.00 per prescription which costs me about $ 80.00 every month; sometimes more.
What I need to know is whether this is legal to have the deductable jump 100%.
Community Blue says it is up to my employer via the contract they have with them.
I thought NY Law says it was limited to a certin percentege(10% ?) or cost of medicine; whichever is lower.
I cannot find where I read this.
Can someone help?
Answer
Originally posted by JohnC
What is the name of your state? New York
I have healh insurance thu my employer(Community Blue).
I am a diabectic who takes insulin and pills
every day.
My deductuctable went from $10.00 to $20.00 per prescription which costs me about $ 80.00 every month; sometimes more.
What I need to know is whether this is legal to have the deductable jump 100%.
Community Blue says it is up to my employer via the contract they have with them.
I thought NY Law says it was limited to a certin percentege(10% ?) or cost of medicine; whichever is lower.
I cannot find where I read this.
Can someone help?
**A: I cannot find where you read that either.
Answer
A. That is not your deductible, that is the co-pay.
B. Either way, it's irrelevant. Yes, it's perfectly legal for your employer to change the terms of their group health plan. Given the enormous premium increases employers are being faced with nation-wide, the great majority of employers have increased co-pays, deductibles, co-insurance levels, and premiums to their employees.
What you should ask your employer about is whether they will consider putting a Flexible Spending Account Plan in place (i.e. a 125B Plan) that would allow employees to pay for these out-of-pocket expenses with tax-free dollars deferred into a medical reinbursement account. If your employer already has one and you haven't taken advantage of it, shame on you. You should enroll in the Plan at the earliest possible date you can get in. A FSA is ideal for an individual such as yourself who has fixed medical out-of-pocket costs.