Showing posts with label COBRA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COBRA. Show all posts

Friday, January 16, 2009

Jane Get Me Off This Crazy Thing

I am tired of this roller coaster I have been on. The ups have not been that big and the downs are taking the wind out of me. Yesterday I got my COBRA packet from Benesyst and we are only going to have The Wife covered because we are not eligible for Medicaid. I call and find out how this works and to get a payment total. If we both get covered it's $810 just for medical yet if it's just The Wife the bill drops to $392. We can hopefully pay for that.

On the form, I owe from 12/22/08 and I needed a price for January and those last 9 days of December. I ask how much I owe and I was shocked. Even though medical was taken out of my last check in December I still have to pay the entire month for a lovely total of $784. How am I suppose to pay that and continue to pay bills? I kept asking why I had to pay a full month and all I got was silence and the statement "It's notning personal." No, it's just greed.

Sitting beneath all my Benesyst information is another packet... my 401K. I haven't opened it yet, but there has to be at least $8000 in my account. The smart move is to put it away and not deal with it because the penalties are going to kill us, then again, we need the money. That could pay a few months of insurance and payoff a few bills. I could even pay off both cars and we could save over $400 a month.

I keep hearing how we are heading towards simpler times, in my mind things have become more complex and will never be simpler. I know The Mother keeps telling me we will get through this and God will never put more on my plate than I can handle, but seriously I think the plate is full right now. So God put that ladle down and let me get through this batch before you plop down some more hurt.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Insurance Hell

Because The Wife is 5 weeks pregnant we REALLY NEED insurance. Since I was laid off I am eligible for COBRA, but it's like $800 a month. Well, my income right now is under $300 a month right now. The Wife makes decent money, but if we do the COBRA then we can't pay the mortgage. I tried to go on line and find insurance that way and MAN is that a mess.

There is a thing called maternity insurance and I thought awesome, we can get cheaper better insurance. Then I read the fine print, it's only if you think you might become pregnant and if you are preggos... then your out of luck.


I kept searching and found people that will insure pregnant women... oh wait... no they won't. I just got off the phone with a guy who tired to convince me to NOT get his insurance. I explained to him that I don't want to pay the $800 dollars a month, I'd rather pay his $400. He didn't care, he kept talking about how much cheaper it will be with my current COBRA plan.


I tried to get the guy to say that they only want my money, but obviously that did not happen. I'm going to try and see if I can get Cobra just for The Wife and I go without. It's not a great plan, but it would save $500. I don't think it will work, but at least I can give it the ol' college try