Employer Sponsored Pre-65 Health Insurance Tax Question

[Ed B]

My company offers two health insurance options for pre-Medicare retirees.

One is basically like active employee coverage with little to no employer contribution. It is ~$1800 per month for a employee+family, $1000 deductible and 80/20 split with $2000 individual Out Of Pocket (OOP) max.

The 2nd is about ~ $1100 for employee+family, with $2000 deductible and $4000 OOP max for an individual and $4000 total family deductible and $8000 OOP max for the family regardless of household size.

If the retiree chooses one of these retiree health plans the premiums are deducted from the pension check along with any income tax the retiree chooses to have deducted.

My question is whether or not these premiums are before tax or after tax? As an active employee the health insurance premiums I pay each week are not subject to income tax. If it is the same for retiree health care premiums taken out of my pension check, then it could make a significant positive impact on the actual cost of that insurance.

I assume the fortune 500 company I work for doesn't matter. I am assuming the answer is based on law rather than megcorp accounting.

P.S. I did a search through this community and a general google search but didn't find an answer to this particular question.


Thanks

Ed B

 

[Fedup]

You need to ask your company to be sure about the specific. But for my husband's pension, the health cost is not deducted from the income, but you get to deduct that from your tax return under schedule A I believe. Same with my LTC.

 

[Sunset]

Ours is after tax, as the 1099 ? forms we get for doing taxes lists the entire amount, as paid to us, so we pay tax on it.

 

[MichaelB]

My question is whether or not these premiums are before tax or after tax? As an active employee the health insurance premiums I pay each week are not subject to income tax. If it is the same for retiree health care premiums taken out of my pension check, then it could make a significant positive impact on the actual cost of that insurance.

You pay premiums with after tax dollars.

 

[Alan]

You pay premiums with after tax dollars.

That was the case with my employer retiree plan. The plan also was not eligible for an HSA so I also lost the use of the FSA I had as an employee for pretax money to pay for oop things including eye glasses, dental visits etc.

 

[kaneohe]

You need to ask your company to be sure about the specific. But for my husband's pension, the health cost is not deducted from the income, but you get to deduct that from your tax return under schedule A I believe. Same with my LTC.

you get to list it on Sch A but because medical expenses are subject to a 10% of AGI threshold, they may or may not help you.

 

[Ed B]

Well that s*cks.

Thanks for the responses.