The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants

On Health and Dependent Care

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

[Publisher-in-Chief]

I wrote a bit about hospital cafeteria plans in an earlier blog post.

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/hospital-cafeteria-plans/

Now, any hospital, or other employee given the opportunity to participate in a cafeteria plan should consider the following important two elections; health and dependent care.

Healthcare [Working Spouse]

If the employee is married and has a spouse who also works, and the employer-provided health benefits are better under the spouse’s plan, then the employee should elect to be covered by the spouse’s plan and choose another nontaxable benefit or a cash benefit that would be taxable under his or her own cafeteria plan, such as dependent-care coverage or group term insurance coverage. Switching health insurance requires planning to eliminate potential gaps in coverage created by insurance enrollment criteria. If the employee does not need the salary or cafeteria-plan benefits to meet current expenses, he or she should consider contributing the cash to a 401(k) plan and defer the tax liability.

Healthcare [Non-Working Souse]

If the employee has no working spouse and the employee’s plan is the only source for certain health benefits, the employee should consider what type of benefits he or she really needs for his or her family. In other words, can the employee get the necessary benefits under the company plan cheaper than he or she could individually, after taking into account that individual coverage will be paid with after-tax dollars, whereas under a cafeteria plan such benefits can be paid with before-tax dollars?

For example, if an employee who is in the 30% tax bracket is provided a $6,000 plan by her employer. He or she would have to be able to get a comparable plan independently for only  $3,741 to be in the same position on an after-tax basis. ($6,000 minus income taxes of $1,800 = $4,200, $4,200  minus $459 of avoided FICA

Dependent-Care

An employee who has a choice of including dependent-care costs may be entitled to an income-tax credit for such expenses if, the employer does not reimburse them. Thus, if a credit is worth the same or more than the payment under the cafeteria plan, the employee may choose to contribute those dollars toward additional health or life insurance.

Assessment

There is no doubt why healthcare and dependent care are the two most important cafeteria plan election determinants that clients seek in our advisory practice. The issues are that vital to all employees.

Conclusion

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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

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Filed under: Career Development, Financial Planning, Health Insurance, iMBA, Inc., Managed Care, Practice Management | Tagged: 401(k), cafeteria plans, david marcinko, dependent care, FICA, healthcare, hospitals |