At Bank of America Corp. next year, how much employees make will determine how much they pay for health insurance. The Charlotte bank has been informing its U.S. employees about the new approach, which means lower-paid workers will pay less and higher-paid ones will pay more for their coverage in 2011. Salary-tiered health insurance programs are still an "emerging trend," but an increasing number of companies are adopting this approach, human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates found last year. Less than 15 percent of employers vary employee contributions based on pay, according to the firm's 2010 database of 2,307 plans.
