When my daughter was born 3 years ago, I happily added her to my medical insurance plan sponsored by my employer. Like most other employers, my company only pays for the individual employee’s premium, not their family’s coverage. Then after while, I realized that each of my semi-monthly paycheck was deducted out about $220 to cover my daughter’s premium. At first I didn’t pay enough attention, thinking that was the monthly payment, and it was just about right because it cost approximately that much for an individual policy. But after a few months, I started to realize that $220 per paycheck means $440 a month! What an idiot I was!

After asking around from HR to accounting department, I learned that my employer had to pay a higher insurance premium due to the higher risk nature of business! “What risk,” I asked, “while I spend my whole day in the office?” As it turns out, some of the workers and contract employees work in construction, which is considered higher risk by insurance companies. And they explained further that because I belonged in that “risky” group, I have to pay higher premiums.

Well, I couldn’t quit my job. But luckily, I could switch my daughter’s coverage to my wife’s side, which cost about half of what I was paying. After some chit chat with my co-workers, I learned that most of them had to buy separate insurance coverage for their family from other insurance carriers under individual plans, which turned out to be a lot cheaper than my company’s group plan.

The problem is, if you don’t ask, they don’t tell. So if you assume all companies are treated equal by insurance providers, you’re wrong. And you may end up paying for nothing. I learned my lesson. Beside the “risk factor” in insurance costs, different insurance carriers charge different premiums as well. If your employer offer different options, I believe you should seriously consider the pros and cons. If you don’t need to have doctor visits or order prescription drugs very often, paying for this option would be a waste of money. And in today’s ever-rising cost of medical insurance, no one can afford to ignore any possible savings from the available options.