The future of remote work

Hmm. I didn’t realize insurance could be an issue across state lines. I’ve worked most of my career for NY based companies while living in NJ. All our medical providers are in NJ.

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D2 works 100% remote in California (all of the team here is remote) for a company that is headquartered in Texas. Her insurance is BCBS of Texas PPO and she has no trouble finding providers in CA.

My H works in one NE state, we live in another, and the company has its HQ in a third state and that is where the insurance is based. It has all been fine. The only issue we have is it doesn’t cover ABA therapy, which people tell me would be required if it was based in MA. (Although I’m not sure it actually would since it is a self-funded plan.) It works out okay for us since MA has very generous access to Medicaid, and it covers ABA.

The dark side of remote work…

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/remote-work-comes-with-daytime-drug-and-drinking-habits/

This does not surprise me AT ALL.

Back in 2020 when everyone in my neighborhood who didn’t have essential worker status was WFH, I used to go for mid-day walks and would see a the same few neighbors looking over their shoulder, shoving their hands into a tree trunk on a hiking trail near my home where I used to pass by. I just rolled my eyes and kept walking.

My daughter had to go into the office three days in a row this week. In discussing it with her she said, 1-2 days a weeks is best in her opinion.

My son had worked remotely during the pandemic. He was hired while they were fully remote. They now are in office Tues-Thurs. They are flexible and allow you to work from home additional days if you have a reason, such as an appt that day, you are taking half a day off, or you have a cold.

For my work, we also went fully remote during the pandemic and we are still fully remote. People could go back to the office if they wanted to. We had 3 office buildings full of people and now I think about 40 people work in the office. All three buildings are for sale. They will look for a small office space to rent instead.

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I only have to be in the office 2 days/week, however I find myself going in 4, sometimes 5 days per week. There is always someone I’d rather meet with in person and I concentrate better there. I’d rather be home if I have a day of remote meetings; otherwise I may as well go in. May loosen up in that as it gets nicer though so I can walk during the day. But I live close to work - less than 15 minute drive, no traffic for the most part, so except in the worst winter weather it’s not a big deal to go in.

At least for tech jobs, I expect people will ultimately have to come into the office 3 or 4 days a week. People who moved too far away from their jobs and can’t do that are going to be in deep trouble when they try to switch jobs and find employers prefer new employees who can. There’s a reason tech jobs cluster in regions like Silicon Valley and Austin. People are more productive when they’re working directly together, especially if they’re working on cutting edge, high tech projects.

Our S worked in DC, had an insurance policy from BCBS HI. He’s been able to see providers throughout the US as there are a ton of in network providers.

I’m curious which state would be taxing the income? You are a resident of Ohio. I am quite sure that since the office you officially work for is in CA, CA isn’t going to give up on income taxes very easily.

It varies. Here’s an article that discusses it:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/success/state-income-tax-ramifications-remote-work/index.html

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@lvvcsf

I was asking about health insurance coverage for people who reside in one state and work in another. Not taxes.

Second…I’m not working remotely. Anywhere.

If the two states have a reciprocity agreement you only pay taxes in your home state. Otherwise, both states tax you - the state you work in (either remotely or in person) taxes you as a non-resident, and your home state taxes you as a resident. Then you get credit for the taxes you paid in your work state.

(Source: personal experience living in one state but working in another)

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Same here…multiple family members have lived in one state and worked on another.

If we are still discussing the future of remote work…then some people might need to consider this…as well as the type of health insurance offered.

I didn’t word that well. I understood what you were asking and was posing another question based off yours. The “you” was meant to be a general you not pertaining to thumper1 in particular. I admit that it doesn’t look that way. I don’t feel qualified to give an opinion to your question so hopefully others will be better able to answer.

Something I’ve encountered before – particular as an office-based employee in WA, when the “central office” is in CA – the company will offer a few insurance choices. One HDHP (those are generally national, as most doctors will take it since most of the time they’re getting paid cash from the HD part), one HMO (this is generally specific to the area the central office is in), one PPO (specific to the area the central office is ins), and one national PPO (generally more expensive than the other PPO, but pretty much the only choice aside from the HDHP plan, for those not working in the central office).

There’s a “outsource your HR” company called Trinet, which a fair number of tech companies and others use these days – they have a ton of plans to choose from, and they can offer that because they essentially bundle all the folks from all the companies that happen to choose that one as a “risk pool”, and it’s generally reasonable for both sides of the insurance transaction. It allows the small-medium size company I work for to offer a lot of choices, for not very much difference in cost.

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During the pandemic, when workers left their offices and moved, many HR departments contacted them and made them move their official residence. If they were living and working in Kansas, that meant they had to pay Kansas taxes.

Some states (or cities) require people to pay taxes if they work, at all, in that state/city. You see it a lot for professional athletes who have to pay taxes in Philly when they play one game there, or golfers who play in California for the tournament even if they live in the ‘no income tax’ State of Florida. When my sister was a partner in a law firm, she had to pay some California taxes because some of the cases were held there, even if she never worked out of California (luckily, someone at the firm did those tax filing). There are a lot of cities near the borders of states (Mass/NH, DC area, NYC) and often those have agreements on how to tax so it is not the nightmare it could be.

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I don’t know how much this applies to work from home. For most of my career I was an independent software engineer, working in California, with my own California corporation. But four years were spent working in New York. The companies I was contracting with in New York were paying my California corporation, and I took my salary from that. I had to file tax forms for both New York and California, but almost all of my taxes were paid to New York, since that’s where I was making my money. The only money I remember paying to California was the legally required minimum payment, which was $800 for a California corporation.

That makes more sense given the extreme youth orientation of many tech firms. At one point the average age of a Google employee was something like 28. Not a lot of 50-65 year olds there to begin with so no worries of luring them back.
Wow. I just looked up the demographics. Only 26% over 30. Few over age 40. No wonder they can work in person. Those 18-20 year olds and under 18s like to leave the house!

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