health insurance costs

You might soon be paying more for your insurance than some of your coworkers if you are unwilling to share your medical information with your employer, according to rules released May 16 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The new rules allow employers to charge employees a penalty equal to 30 percent of the total employer-employee cost of employee-only health insurance unless they divulge their health data to their employer’s workplace wellness program.

UPDATE (5/16/2016): AARP is deeply disappointed with the new EEOC rules on workplace wellness programs. Read our press release.

By Julie Appleby, KHN Staff Writer, Kaiser Health News

Individual Insurance Market Too Costly for Most: More than a quarter of working-age U.S. adults"”or about 48 million people"”lacked health insurance at some point in 2011, according to a new study from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund. The study polled people aged 19 to 64. Of those without insurance, 70 percent had spent a year or more without coverage, and 57 percent had been uninsured for two years or more.