When hubby was hired by his company 5 or so years ago, one of his 'perks' was fully paid health ins. for our whole family. Well, his boss can no longer afford it, so he is now only going to provide it for hubby and I, not our kids. It is a small company, maybe 6-8 employees, the other guys just have their kids on the 'Healthy Kids' insurance one can buy into in our state, if they qualify. You get it free or pay in $32, $54, or $205 a month per child for health and dental insurance, his coworkers all pay the $32 a month.
That would be fine EXCEPT my hubby makes a higher wage than most there, AND owns his own business, we are not clear if we will qualify for this program, and if so, at what buy-in amount. $32 or $54 we can do, but $205 x 2 kids is not within our reach. Our other option is to pay the diff. to his company- almost $400 a month to keep the kids on the insurance there. At that point might as well pay the $410 through the program for 2 kids (if we qualify) and at least have lower co pays and dental too...our current insurance (anthem) is not great and has high co-pays, but at least it's something.
The kids' insurance ends 2/1, our application for the Healthy Kids goes out tomorrow and can take 45 days to process. We are looking at having a gap of them being uncovered, OR having to figure out another $400 a month expense, which I do not know how we'll do. I understand why his boss had to change this, ins. costs have risen 20% a year, but I wish he had given us the courtesy of a heads up this might happen even 3 weeks or a month sooner so we could get this application in sooner.
We JUST 2 weeks ago made our last car payment of $278 a month, and that was a stretch for us, but we got it paid of 2+ years early. It feels like we took a great leap forward with our money, only to be shoved 2 giant bounds backwards. We just have to wait and see how our application goes, but in the meantime, it's STRESSFUL not knowing how much we'll have to pay or if we'll even qualify!
I know I just have to wait it out, nothing more to do on my end, but as a 'control freak' with a plan for everything, having this MAJOR detail in life up in the air is NOT sitting well with me!
That would be fine EXCEPT my hubby makes a higher wage than most there, AND owns his own business, we are not clear if we will qualify for this program, and if so, at what buy-in amount. $32 or $54 we can do, but $205 x 2 kids is not within our reach. Our other option is to pay the diff. to his company- almost $400 a month to keep the kids on the insurance there. At that point might as well pay the $410 through the program for 2 kids (if we qualify) and at least have lower co pays and dental too...our current insurance (anthem) is not great and has high co-pays, but at least it's something.
The kids' insurance ends 2/1, our application for the Healthy Kids goes out tomorrow and can take 45 days to process. We are looking at having a gap of them being uncovered, OR having to figure out another $400 a month expense, which I do not know how we'll do. I understand why his boss had to change this, ins. costs have risen 20% a year, but I wish he had given us the courtesy of a heads up this might happen even 3 weeks or a month sooner so we could get this application in sooner.
We JUST 2 weeks ago made our last car payment of $278 a month, and that was a stretch for us, but we got it paid of 2+ years early. It feels like we took a great leap forward with our money, only to be shoved 2 giant bounds backwards. We just have to wait and see how our application goes, but in the meantime, it's STRESSFUL not knowing how much we'll have to pay or if we'll even qualify!
I know I just have to wait it out, nothing more to do on my end, but as a 'control freak' with a plan for everything, having this MAJOR detail in life up in the air is NOT sitting well with me!