Insurance Vent - long

redjellybean128

I normally lurk as I'm not a working mom yet, baby is due in April. I work for a very small company, right now I'm the only employee.  For backstory, I've been here about 4 years and it's always been small. I've been thinking it's time to make a change, but since I'm pregnant, I just thought it would be easier to start the search after/during maternity leave.  Because of the company's size, I've never really had any benefits aside from vacation/sick time. The vacation is accrued and I was going to use 3 weeks of it plus my week of sick time towards maternity leave with another 4 weeks unpaid. My husband just started a job with an amazing company that also came with a freaking amazing healthcare package (which was one of his reasons for making the move in the first place). 

Here's my issue. My boss wants to have a very highly specialized surgery. In order to get the hospital she wants to go to  in network for insurance, she has to institute a corporate plan. Hubby's job charges a significant surcharge if my employer offers health insurance and I decide to stay on his. Fair enough, i get why they have the surcharge. I find out today about the corporate plan and it works out to cost us significantly more than what the surcharge would be. We were also thinking that if I were to leave or get laid off or quite frankly even move to part time, me being on his plan is less messy, as being without insurance is not an option for me at all. She presented two plans. One would actually be less than the surcharge and she is willing to subsidize part of the premium but the deductable is huge. The other one has a smaller deductable, but I would be responsible for the premiums completely out of pocket. 

So today we were going over the plans and I said well, financially it makes the most sense for me to stay on my husband's plan. Apparently, that was unacceptable as a corporate plan won't work if I don't join in. I'm in a really sucky situation. Either way, my husband and I are losing thousands of dollars that a month ago we didn't think would be an issue. Less important, but sucky still the  same, I also lose my vision and dental coverage so on top of the extra expenses, I'll also be paying that out of pocket for those services as well. I also wanted to stay out of my employer's insurance because if and when I quit after the baby, I didn't want to have to deal with paying anything back. If I go with the cheaper plan and she subsidizes it, I'm sure that will have to be worked out too.  

I'm just so frustrated. I feel like my boss is blaming me, but seriously, she is the one that has to get this specialized surgery (there are options that would be in network for her elsewhere on individual plans, she just doesn't like those options). If anything it's adding to my desire to leave at this point. I also received a 10K raise over the summer. She keeps throwing that in my face as well, that it should help with the added expense (she also held this same raise against me a couple of weeks ago because I wasn't working enough 12 hour days, 6 days a week). Well yeah, it helps, but after taxes all this healthcare nonsense is still costing us more than what the raise works out to be. 

Again, sorry for the vent. I'm just not quite sure what to do...

jf198400

You need to do what's best for your family, your boss can't force you to take her insurance. I would honestly start looking for a new job now. Could you afford to SAH until after ML?

djm31012

agree with PP i would do whats best for you because in the end...no one would do you any favors by paying more money to appease you!  If you are planning to leave anyway and can swing it...maybe stick it out until Jan and then stay home and start looking for a new job in May after you are settled with the baby.

MammaBear81

You can be on two insurances at once, stay on your DH's plan, and pick whatever plan your boss is choosing to subsidize (so you aren't paying a ton of extra money), not sure if it would get around the surcharge though.

daisy662

Do what's best for your family. Don't allow your boss to bully you into anything that isn't right for you. P.S. I am in HR and trying to force you to participate is downright unethical...

redjellybean128

Thank you for the advice, it was really helpful. Turns out after my rant that my boss did say I would be able to waive. It is still costing us thousands more than anticipated due to the surcharge, but as my husband said it's money well spent if it is one less thing tied up with my employer while out on leave. Unfortunately, we are not in a position where I can quit quite yet, but this situation has motivated me to start a more serious search for a new role.