Military Retiree Question

I don't think you should add the $250 paid for something to the $300 paid for the not-something. Two different items, and they do not add. If the company does NOT pay the $250 for real insurance products, they have $250 available for those who do not use that product, right? As to why they'd pay $300 after saving $250? I don't believe I've ever seen anything like that. Maybe if they save $250, they'd pay $250, but why the premium?

 

Millis pays a .01 extra if you don't take their insurance

 

Let me throw some numbers at this and see if I can explain it better:

Let's say that I make 1000 dollars per week in salary. The company insurance program costs 250 dollars per week. Out of that, the company charges me 75 dollars and they pay the other 175 dollars. So now my pre tax income is 925 dollars. The company is paying a total of 1175 for me (forget their taxes and the other insurances they may be paying, let's keep this simple.

So, in order to keep their costs down and encourage people not to take their benefits they offer me another 100 dollars a week if I don't take the benefits. Now, I am making 1100 dollars a week, and they are paying out 1100 dollars a week. I am not getting company insurance this way.

Wouldn't it be fair to say, in this scenario, that the true cost, to me, of this insurance, is not the 75 dollars that they are charging for it, but really 175 dollars, which is the difference between my pre tax take home of 925 with the insurance, and the 1100 pre tax take home without the insurance?

Now, if I can make that argument to the IRS, that they are really charging 175 dollars per week for this insurance when they are claiming to be offering insurance for 10 per cent or less of my income, I suspect that the IRS may view that as a form of tax fraud, and at the very least charge the penalty per employee for not offering affordable health insurance.

I'm not a lawyer, but unless and until that gets worked out in court I would be very wary about doing that as a company.

 

Problem is, if Tricare finds out you are using them for primary insurance, and your employer offers a health plan, you could be on the hook for repaying Tricare. When health insurance is provided by the employer, Tricare becomes secondary coverage. You are on the hook for opting in to employer coverage as your primary. It's not wise to try and fool Uncle. It may take a while for them to catch on, but when they do they will make you take it in the shorts.

Being self employed and my "company" an LLC with an S Corp tax structure, I am technically an employee of my own company. I had to finally ditch the BCBS I had because premiums grew out of hand. By doing that, I no longer have employer provided health insurance and I can start using Tricare as my primary. I don't live anywhere near a military installation ( I see that as a good thing in many ways ), so I have the Tricare Standard/Extra as my only choice. No problem, still a darn sight cheaper than continuing to paying for the BCBS plan.

 

I have Tricare as my primary and do not use Averitt's health plan. Not once has Tricare even blinked when a claim is made. They can't, since (as the OP posted) I do not use the company health plan offered.

(From the Tricare website)
Using Other Health Insurance
If you have any health insurance other than TRICARE, it is called "other health insurance" Health insurance you have in addition to TRICARE, such as Medicare or an employer-sponsored health insurance. TRICARE supplements don’t qualify as "other health insurance."." It can be through your employer or a private insurance program. By law, TRICARE pays after all other health insurance, except for:

• Medicaid
• TRICARE supplements
• State Victims of Crime Compensation Programs
• Other Federal Government Programs identified by the Director, Defense Health Agency (i.e. Indian Health Service)

This means your other health insurance processes your claim first. Then, you or your doctor files your claim with TRICARE.


So if you don't use the company health plan... Tricare goes on being your primary and you go on driving. Everyone is happy and Thank you for being only 7% of the population in the US that has served.

As for your original question... I am not getting paid more, so at least from my perspective... No you will not get paid more.