The nation's large self-insured employers are beginning to abandon their health benefit programs

[Honeycombe8]

12. I don't know about the other co., but Sears is in trouble financially, so that's probably what that

is about.

Self-insured? As in...they don't buy a group policy from an ins. co.? They self-insure? So it sounds like Sears has been anti-insurance company for many years.

I hope this isn't a trend. It COULD be a good thing at first. But if it's like the 401k, that's not great. The article says 401ks are partly contributed to by employers, but that's not always the case. I recently changed jobs and found that employers varied a lot in what they provided for 401ks. I got a job offer from a company with a 401k. I asked how much they contributed. They contributed NOTHING. What's the point of providing a 401k, then? It prevents you from opening an IRA, is all that does (if I understand teh rules). Another company contributed 1 1/2 % matching. Another company contributed over 1 - 7%, depending on tenure...it was a contribution whether the employee contributed at all or not.

Ins. benefits are getting to be that way...from employer paying for the whole premium, to employee having to pay part of it.

PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, AND CURRENT EMPLOYEES, NEED TO ASK THESE QUESTIONS OF EMPLOYERS. I was shocked when I asked around at my new employment what people thought of the 401k plan...I was shocked that few people I asked even participated, knew anything about it, and definitely DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE FIRM CONTRIBUTED, OR IF IT CONTRIBUTED AT ALL.

I did not take the job from the company that didn't contribute at all to the 401k. Thankfully, I got another job offer, where there was at least a small matching contribution. It says a lot about a company, when it doesn't care enough about it's employees to provide ANY sort of retirement benefits. They probably think just having a plan set up is contribution enough. IT ISN'T.