Vision Plans Subsidizing Group Health Plans

Time magazine reports that "it’s a common scenario: A medical insurance carrier wants to sell your company a medical coverage plan that is partly paid by your employer. The carrier’s sales representative, sensing your company’s price sensitivity, attempts to sweeten the deal by offering a 1% reduction in your company’s medical premiums. Sometimes this can be as much as the vision premium. But there’s a catch. The vision coverage is employee-paid. So the medical plan which is partly employer-paid, is being subsidized by the vision plan that is 100% financed by your company’s employees. This deal is too good for any company to pass up, right? Not so fast. The truth is, a bundled deal such as the one above may not only cost employees more money, but may also leave your company open to legal challenges." Read more.