When You Start a New Job Do They Have to Offer You Medical Insurance?

Getting a new job can mean many good things for you and your family. You may have a higher income, a better schedule, a shorter commute or a job you really enjoy doing. You may also be eligible for company benefits, such as retirement accounts, gym memberships, life insurance or health insurance. No company is obliged to provide you with any of these benefits, however.

A Popular Benefit

Health insurance is a fringe benefit many employers do offer. In fact, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research of the Department of Health and Human Services reports that in the first six months of 2003, employer health insurance covered 159 million Americans, or 63.4 percent of the population under 65 at that time. Health insurance is one of the most popular benefits that employers offer. Employers offer health insurance to reduce their rate of turnover and to attract high-quality employees.

No Law

No law exists at the federal or state level to require employers to offer health insurance to their employees. However, if they do offer health insurance, federal and state laws govern what kinds of benefits they have to offer and how they are administered.

Full-Time

Full-time employees are generally offered health insurance, but some companies do offer some health benefits or even the same benefits of health insurance to part-time employees. What constitutes working full-time will vary from employer to employer. No law specifies how many hours an employee has to work in a week to be considered full-time. Some employers may specify that employees, even part-time employees, work just a certain number of hours each week in order to be eligible for health insurance. The number might be 25 to 40, depending on the employer.

Fines

Some states require companies to pay a fine to help subsidize costs of providing health care to others in the state that have to purchase health care on their own. For example, Massachusetts requires some employers who do not have 25 percent or more of full-time employees, or employers who do not contribute at least one-third of the costs of premiums for health insurance to full-time employees, to pay such a fine.

References

• Health Insurance Finders: Affordable Group Health Insurance and Small Business Health Insurance Plans
• Insure Lane: Does My Employer Have to Provide Me with Health Insurance?
• Health Insurance Info: Massachusetts-Does My Employer Have to Offer Health Benefits?
• Dept. of Health & Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Quality & Research: Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance