Open Enrollment 2016-2017, and the benefits of benefits
November 21, 2016
Between the election, hosting guests, and other demanding personal events, open enrollment flew right by. We scrambled to update our selections on the last day of the period instead of the first day like I like to do. I’m super glad PiC caught that because my attention was elsewhere and I would have been ticked as all get out if we’d missed it.
Most things are staying the same: medical, vision, dental, long term disability, life insurance, dependent care FSA.
We’re increasing our FSA allocations to the maximum possible $2600 in the hope that PiC will be an eligible candidate for LASIK, as much as the idea of having his eyes operated on horrifies me, because we’ve discussed it for years and objectively, if they can do some good, we should go for it.
I found a goof from last year’s open enrollment though. Can anyone tell me why I added JuggerBaby to our vision and dental plans when ze didn’t have teeth yet? I s’pose I didn’t know ze wouldn’t have to see the dentist at all this year but my child was toothless as of last year’s enrollment period and that was a curious waste of money. It wasn’t a *lot*, probably around a few dollars a month and possibly I chose to pay it just in case ze needed dental care early, but it’s unlike me to waste any money if I can help it.
My company shed a ton of benefits in the past few years, so we rely on PiC’s employer’s great benefits. This puts me on edge, in light of the possible threats to the ACA, because I feel like we’re just one job loss away from serious instability. Not only would be we be out half of our income, we would lose access to the remaining 401(k), FSA for health and dependent care, medical, vision, dental, and disability and life insurance benefits. We do carry private life insurance for me but not for him. Our costs would increase at the same time as halving our household income, so I’m considering how I might want to deal with that if he were to be injured or out of a job.
I miss my old work benefits for sure. It’s a heck of a lot harder and more expensive to get coverage if you work for a small employer or for yourself than it is if you work for a big company.
It really is! The cost of benefits is astounding, and I know why my employer cut costs by shedding them but boy oh boy I sure do miss them.
Argh, yes, I miss employer-provided benefits greatly. I just added my new baby to our health insurance and did open enrollment for 2017 in the Healthcare.gov marketplace. It was a hassle, I had to call both my current insurance and the marketplace with questions, and it looks like premiums are going up 33% next year (on top of the added costs of insuring another person!).
I once had a job with great benefits, a 401(k) match, an HSA match, commuter assistance… unfortunately it wasn’t the right job for me, and the husband and I are much happier with self-employment these days. We just have to work a lot harder to afford to replace those benefits.
Ugh, I hate feeling like we’re one job away from greatly increased hassle and cost. Then again that’s still better than the boat I was in before which was no amount of hassle could have bought me insurance because with preexisting conditions I was uninsurable.
Main benefit I miss is dental coverage. When you’re laid off or retire and go on Medicare, dental care disappears (unless you sign up for a Medicare “Advantage” plan, a type of HMO). Looked in to extending my Delta Dental in the private market: HUUUGE rip. Premiums go through the roof, and they don’t even bother to hide the fact that they do everything they can think of to avoid covering anything. Better to put that amount aside in a savings account just for dental care.
That’s what we had to do two jobs ago. I couldn’t afford premiums, it was more possible to scrape up the cash and negotiate with the dentist for cash prices.