Anyone have/use Aflac for maternity leave?

MsKellDel

I work for a small office and just used up my vacay time and took the rest of maternity leave unpaid. We are about to have a meeting with Aflac and i am pretty sure they offer short term disability which can also be used for ML. Just curious if it is worth paying for each month?

Not preggo yet but will be TTC in the next year or two

mlc92404

If you are going to TTC then I would start paying for the benefit now.  I believe you have to have signed up for it 10 months before delivering (basically they don't want you signing up for it after you are already pregnant)

webblet_07

It will depend on the specifics of your policy and your income level but mine was the following:

 Short Term Disability for up to 12 weeks can be used for maternity leave (birth is a short term disability).  My policy had a 7 day grace period - I had to pay for one of the weeks myself.  I was out a total of 7 weeks.  They paid me 60% of my salary for the remaining 6 weeks of my leave.  But it's not paid like a paycheck would be per se.  I had to get my employer to fill out paperwork stating my last day and first day back and then it took over 2 weeks for AFLAC to process and then another week once I got the actual check and clear the bank (my bank put a hold on it because it was over $2500).  So, don't rely on that money to be there, I didn't actually have the money to use until I was already back at work. 

I pay about $50 a month out of my paycheck to have the coverage.  It was a hassle, but it beats having 7 weeks unpaid (we don't have any maternity leave paid at my small company).

Dobie_Mama

Ditto both of the PP's.  There is a waiting period, so I would sign up now.  My coverage was also 60% of my salary and I received my check around the time I was returning to work.  Additionally, I had a hospitalization policy with them that I was able to utilize.

MsTammy

I don't have Aflac, but my Short term diasability SUCKED. It took 4 weeks to kick in and was only good for the doctor approved 6 weeks. So basically I got paid for 2 weeks. Well I also still got 2 more paychecks from them a week or 2 later.

Apparently the girl messed up and overpaid me, by $900!!!!!!!!! Now I have to pay it all back. I was BEYOND pissed.

fIowerchild

We have a STD benefit that I pay for thru my employer. It was def a great thing to have. I think it only covered about 60% of my take-home pay (on our policy the max benefit was $1000 a week), but still better than nothing.

Also the weekly payout was non-taxable since the STD payment was already taxed when I paid for it. So it was a straight up $1K a week.

rlthomas7

Yes, it was amazing and I suggest it to everyone.

I had a hard pregnancy and was hospitalized three different times - twice due to complications and once to actually have the baby. I had two policies, the sickness/hospitalization one and the STD one. With the sickness one they pay you a flat fee when you're admitted to the hospital and an additional amount for each day you're in there. The first hospitalization I was in for 3 days and got around $1000. The second hospitalization I was in for three weeks and then on home bedrest for two months. And I was able to work from the hospital and home until the baby was born, but I was still paid STD since I couldn't go to the office. So I still got my income up until delivery, but ended up getting around $10,000 in Aflac checks. Don't skimp on this - get the coverage, and get the GOOD coverage. While you don't anticipate having the issues that I had, if you do have problems it's nice to just focus on having a healthy baby, not having to worry about paying the mortgage.

 

annam829

i am always on the fence about this issue when it comes up...i had no time when i had keira so, i took my 6 months unpaid.  we managed, but it wasn't how i was used to living...in our case i don't think it is worth it, but, i am not the primary bread winner in the house.  the policy that was offered to me was very expensive and i don't think it was worth it.  my plan for baby #2 is just to bulk up my own savings and live off of that when the time comes...i also don't think i will be staying home for as long of a period of time   does that make sense?