Insurance Issues

One of the biggest obstacles we have faced with me leaving my job to stay at home with Liam is insurance.  My job provided our health insurance, and Andy’s job carries absolutely zero benefits.  He works for a smaller company, so his boss isn’t legally required to provide his employees with anything, so he doesn’t.  This was my biggest hangup when deciding whether or not to resign.  I researched for months, trying to figure out what the best option was.  I had finally decided to go with one company, which was actually the same company my school insurance had been provided through.  In hindsight, I should have realized that this particular company had been incredibly difficult to work with during my hospital stay after Liam’s birth, but I didn’t process that.

It was a nightmare.  Somehow we had applied online, but then an agent also contacted us, and it took them well over  a week to figure out that we somehow had two applications in the mix.  Then they wouldn’t cancel the first application.  I spent HOURS of my time on the phone trying to deal with this situation.  It was literally every nap Liam took during the day for a week before I finally got everything figured out.  Then our quote came back—at 694 dollars a month.  Our original was 285.  Apparently we are all on death’s doorstep because there was ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for our payment to be this high.  At this point Andy took over and cancelled everything with them.  Because I couldn’t pick my head up off the pillow long enough to stop crying.  Because I was frustrated and angry and sad.

But then…I had an idea.  I had been using an online site that pooled plans from a variety of companies.  I decided to go to individual company’s websites and look up their options straight from the source.  I found several do-able options, and finally picked one.  With this second company, all I did was fill out the application.  Then a week later, we got a packet in the mail saying that our coverage would begin on X date, and that our payment was 15 dollars higher than originally quoted.  15…not 400.  I can handle that.  So we finally have that figured out….after a solid month of dealing with one company, I got the other in less than a week and only maybe an hour of my time.  Now it’s too bad that insurance premiums aren’t tax deductible….I think we may hit the income percentage to make out of pocket medical costs tax deductible this year after all of my complications….I just have to keep track of all of my paperwork, and check with my dentist’s office and see if they can reprint a receipt for me.