Employee health insurance plans - are they fair for child-free workers?
This article was a really informative read: Are Single, Childless Workers Shortchanged by Benefit Plans? by Hillary J. Collyer. What shocked me was that it was written in 2009 - 15 years ago! It is disappointing that discussion about child-free workers being discriminated against was happening over a decade ago, and not much has changed since then.
One type of employment benefit raised as discriminatory by Ms. Collyer is subsidized or fully paid extended health care benefits for dependents. This is a common benefit in many workplaces. The employee is entitled to receive health benefits and may also have coverage for their dependents. The cost of a worker’s health benefit plan to the employer will be higher when dependent children are also receiving coverage. The child-free worker will be short-changed because the value of their benefit (i.e. health insurance) is lower - insurance for one (or two) people will be less than that for a family of four.
The author proposed three ways to equalize health benefits plans for employees:
Provide a suite of benefits from which employees can select options that appeal the most to them. An employee with children may choose health insurance coverage for dependents, while a child-free employee may opt for additional vacation days or a parking subsidy.
Flat rate approach. The employer would provide a fixed dollar amount for health insurance coverage, and the employee can direct those funds to the coverage that they need. Employees with children may choose more health coverage, and a child-free employee may select increased vision care.
Include the cost of benefits in total compensation. With this approach, the cost of health insurance is included in an employee’s total compensation. The increased value of health care insurance for dependents could be offset for a child-free employee, for example, by providing an equivalent contribution to the child-free employee’s retirement savings plan.
These three options for delivering health care insurance to employees ensure that child-free workers receive a benefit of equal value to their colleagues with children.
Some employers may hesitate to implement one of these alternatives due to the increased costs they would incur. To this, I counter that companies would simply be acting on the equality policies they are undoubtedly championing. Actions speak louder than words.
I also predict valuable benefits would flow to employers from adopting one of these equal benefit approaches to delivering health insurance to employees. The number of child-free workers continues to increase annually - just look at population data from pretty much any Western nation. A business that can point to workplace benefit policies such as equal health insurance will attract - and more importantly, retain - child-free employees. I would be confident betting that most employees with children would feel good about being employed by a company that treated all workers fairly (in addition to their benefiting from such policies once their children are no longer dependents).
Employers need to review their workplace benefit programs, including health insurance coverage, with a critical eye to evaluate whether these programs are fair to their child-free employees.
Alysia Christiaen
Creator of CFW² and a child-free woman.
