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Eek! Healthcare!

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I’ve been hanging on budget wise by the hair on my chinny chin chin. Added healthcare and daycare eat up everything we were applying to debt. Add diapers, wipes, and therapeutic wine, and the budget is pretty tight.

I’d been holding on, waiting to hit my milestone year at work. Once past the milestone, healthcare costs are greatly reduced – we’re talking a couple hundred a month.

…Until they released the 2012 rates and took away milestone benefits for longtime employees. My benefit package is nearly $200 more than I budgeted each month.

Sure, I get it. Healthcare costs are skyrocketing and I can’t expect my employer to cover it, but I was oh so sad to hear about the rate adjustment.

Hubby and I have to sit down and take a hard look at what we can adjust. I’m just hoping for a raise to clear the difference so we won’t have to cut the food budget. I’m not ready for a season of Ramen… again.


8 Comments

  • Reply Andy V |

    My employer just changed to a high deductable plan because the premium was going to go up by over 20% for the third consecutive year. My monthly contribution went from over $300 to about $40, but I have to pay the first $3k (I think, I really only glanced at the new info when I got it yesterday) out of pocket before the coverage kicks in. Either way I would pay about $4k a year for health related expenses.

    I also don’t blame my employer. It’s not their fault and when you have several thousand employees, how the heck can they continue to afford those sort of increases?!?! I can’t imagine any single line item in my personal budget rising by almost 100% in three years and it not throwing the whole budget a little out of whack.

    A lot of my co-workers have resorted to calling my employer “cheap” and “Scrooge”, ect., but they have to continue to make a profit so they can stay in business and give us raises!! (haha) All I can really do is my part to try and stay healthy by eating well and getting some exercise. And this holiday season, I am just thankful I still have health insurance 🙂

  • Reply Corey |

    My health premiums are going up too. Luckily, my wife just got a raise, so we will manage. 🙂 Otherwise, I would be forced to cut back even more.

  • Reply Kerry |

    Well, considering that you were putting up with a lot of crazy from that employer for that milestone benefit, maybe you should start looking for another job?

  • Reply christy |

    This is completely unrelated, but I was curious about whether or not you plan to homeschool your son. I know that you were homeschooled, and I am currently homeschooling my children.

    On to healthcare – we always pick the cheapest package, even though we have young children. Our deductible is $6,000 (GASP!), but my husband’s employer gives us $1,500 yearly toward our HSA. Also, our monthly premiums are only around $200. We are all healthy (thank goodness). It makes more sense to pay a low premium and save more toward our HSA, than to shell out $500 or $600 per month in premiums for insurance we might never use throughout the year. On our plan all preventative visits are covered at 100% (so we don’t have to pay anything for check-up, vaccines, bloodwork, etc.). And if something does happen (for example, we just had a baby), then we have the money in the HSA to cover the HUGE deductible.

  • Reply Marianne |

    um. I know this would barely put a dent in the bucket but I make my own wipes and I actually prefer them to the store bought ones (they have a funny smell..). You just take a good quality roll of paper towels (I use bounty) and cut it in half with a good knife (not serrated). Remove the cardboard tube and put it in a container with about a teaspoon of baby shampoo/wash and a teaspoon of baby oil mixed up with a bit of water (I played around with this until I found the right amount of moisture for me). I use a cannister that looks like it might be for spaghetti or something and flip it upside down until the water is all absorbed. Once you’ve done it a couple of times it takes about a minute. I usually use cloth wipes for bum changes but when I don’t have those prepared I use these and I also use paper towel wipes for cleanup after eating. They are super handy. I bought the paper towels on sale so they were also very cheap.

  • Reply Janelle |

    Have you added up yet how much it is costing you to work? There is a book called “Women Leaving The Workplace” By Larry Burkett. Its a rather old book but all the information still applies today. Often times you can save money by staying home. Consider everything – food, gas, what you can do frugally at home by simply being home more, daycare, diapers (go to cloth), etc. You may be amazed at how better off your life would be by coming home. Just something to consider – and if you still needed more $$, you can pull work one evenings and weekends now and then, to suppliment without daycare expenses.

  • Reply Shannon |

    @Janelle. This is only true to a certain dollar level. Typically if you make more than $35-40K a year, it is not worth it to quit your job. The savings you get would not offset what you earn. And PUHLEASE tell me where on earth & what kind of job you you could find today that would let you work only one night a week and weekends? Even as a waitress, unless you’ve been there forever, you’re gonna have to work more than that. PLUS, leaving your job has year long ramifications these days. Being out of work even for a year, very very few people could get back into a job making anywhere near what they were making before. and that’s if they were lucky enough to find a job. I just had a baby and looked at this myself. It would be a monumental mistake for me to quit now. I’d never get back here. A man might, but no way would I at my age and being a woman. We all want to think that doesn’t matter anymore, but it most certainly does. And I resent the heck out of it. I resent that *I* really don’t have a choice. I MUST work.

    Sorry for the rant. I’m just all fired up about this today. Continue on. Ignore me.

  • Reply emmi |

    Oh man. That’s hard to take at this stage.

    I don’t suppose a room mate is a possibility anymore…

So, what do you think ?