Next To Affect Your Job: Health Insurance Premiums

My mom recently graduated from college with a degree that allows her to teach elementary school. (Go, mom!) She put in several applications locally, thinking that she should have no problem getting a job, since there are two new elementary schools in town and a plethora of job openings. Unfortunately, she received no interviews. (She did, happily, find a nice job teaching at a lovely rural school about 25 minutes from her home.)

Over the weekend, we all received a very interesting insight. My aunt told her that the scuttlebutt from an insider around one of the school districts in town is this: An “unofficial” policy has been put into place to avoid hiring those over 50 due to the fact that the insurance company is raising its premium on those over 50. This would raise the school district’s rate as well as the teachers’ rates.

It is true that health insurance companies use age to determine premiums. And it may be unintended, but that policy of higher premiums for older (even if they are generally healthy) people will start having very real consequences. In my mom’s case, it already has. She was unable to get a job locally because the school district didn’t want to hire someone over 50 — with more expensive premiums.

Health insurance premiums and personal finances

It seems as though health insurance premiums are beginning to have a very real effect in terms of personal finances. Not only do your premiums cost you, but you might also be impacted in other ways. With the cost of health insurance rising, companies may want to cut back on these costs, and might start implementing “unofficial” (they have to be this, since ageism and other forms of discrimination are illegal) policies to get rid of those that pose a higher cost in insurance. This might even be extended to those who have children on their company insurance plans. We’re talking about a slippery slope that moves from not hiring people to possibly firing people based on insurance premiums.

When health insurance premiums are at a point where they influence whether or not you get a job, we really have reached a new level of ridiculousness.

image credit: sxc.hu