Is your employer telling you that you can no longer include dependents on your Small Business? Or, are they just telling you that they will no longer pay for any portion of the dependent premium amounts? There is a difference. Your employer is required by law to pay a portion of the employee only insurance premium, but not for dependents. More and more employers, in this economy, are being forced to reduce or cancel their contributions to dependent coverage, and this is perfectly legal. You can keep your dependents on the group plan, but you will have to pay 100% of their premium amount. Since this is the secondary insurance, it probably won’t make sense for you to do so. If you have a dependent with serious health conditions that is benefiting from the secondary insurance, you might consider keeping them on the group plan, dependent on the additional premium amount you will be required to pay. - Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 12:23pm