The other day we received our bill for our annual homeowners insurance premium.  I opened it up and was shocked that it was $110 more than last year, at $724.  I didn’t think that in one year the rate would go up that much!  I looked over the bill, and there is a blurb about inflation: “Inflation has increased construction cost by 3.00 percent.  Your coverage and premium have been increased accordingly.”  What? 3% of $615 (what the premium used to be) is only around $18.  So why did my premium go up over $100?  Annoying.

We already have a $1000 deductible and I really don’t want to raise that.  I don’t know if I should shop around for homeowners insurance quotes, or if I should just stick with them because this is normal.  I have our cars insured with the company also, so we receive a discount for that.  I also like that the company that we’re with is a reputable company that I trust in case something happened.  It just makes me angry that our policy could go up that much in one year!  We haven’t had any claims, so that can’t have anything to do with it either.

Is that a normal increase in homeowners insurance?  Should I shop around again and maybe switch insurance companies?

It’s open enrollment time for benefits at my employer.  They have given us our options for health insurance, and we are able to choose which plan we’d like.  The choices for health insurance have been simplified down to a few choices, and it mainly boils down to two choices: a high deductible health plan or a PPO.  Last year, we ended up going with a PPO health insurance, and it ended up costing us more money out of pocket in premiums each month.  We did have less out of pocket expenses than if we had chosen the high deductible health plan.  Of course, this year I’m going to analyze the costs and see what makes more sense for our family.  The thought of a high deductible health plan scares me for a few reasons, but I need to not dismiss it, and see if we’d save more money going that route for health insurance.

Cost of High Deductible Health Plan versus PPO

The cost for the high deductible health plan for the entire year is $1,162.68.  The cost for the PPO health insurance is $2,233.56.  If I chose the high deductible health plan, right off the bat I would save $1070.88.  In addition, I would also receive $1,000 a year from my employer (which is divided amount 26 pay checks as long as I am employed there) towards a health savings account.

Health Insurance Deductible Comparison

With the high deductible health plan, we’d have to meet a $2,400 family deductible (not including preventative check ups) before our insurance would kick in.  For example, if we went to the doctor because we were sick, we’d be 100% responsible for the cost of the visit after they billed the insurance.  We would be able to use funds from a health savings account that would be tax deductible, provided we had the funds in the account.

Copays for the PPO are $20 for a general doctor visit and $40 for a specialist.  For whatever reason, my OBGYN is considered a specialist, and I always have to pay the $40 co pay when I visit her.

Maternity Coverage

I’m really hoping that I get pregnant next year, and with the PPO it would cover more than the high deductible health plan would.  Of course, if I ended up using a midwife and having to pay out of pocket with that, I could use the funds from a health savings account to cover that cost.  I guess I like knowing that I don’t have to meet the deductible if we do end up having a baby.

To be honest, I don’t like the high deductible health plan because it seems like it’s more work to keep track of.  Plus, if we did have an expensive medical emergency, it would cost us a lot of money out of pocket.  On the other hand, I feel stupid for passing up the free $1,000 that the company will put in an HSA (health savings account) to help defer the cost and the instant savings on premiums that the high deductible health plan has.  Another of my concerns is that if I go with the high deductible health plan this year, and next year want to go with the PPO that I won’t be able to.  This year they did that with HMOs.  If you had one last year, you can get it this year, but if you didn’t have it, you can’t get it.

It would be so easy to just pick the PPO health insurance and be done with it because then I know that we’ve got good coverage and we don’t have to worry too much about out of pocket expenses.

What type of health insurance would you pick? What kind of health insurance do you have?

I went to the dentist this morning.  Before I went, I made sure to check our current dental insurance information on our company’s human resources website. It’s a good thing I did because it had changed from last year.  While I was logged onto the site, I printed out the dental insurance information.  The cost printed out along with the explanation of benefits.  For a whole year of dental insurance that covers myself and husband, we pay $402.24.  It’s only $15 a paycheck, but I really started to wonder if it’s worth having dental insurance any more.  Neither myself or my husband have been to the dentist at all this year (bad, I know!).  So we’re pretty much not using the insurance at all.

Our open enrollment period is coming up soon, and I’m wondering if I should just go ahead and drop the dental insurance.  I do think it’s very important to have your teeth cleaned every six months (and our insurance pays for that 100%) but if we don’t do it, then we’re wasting $402.24.  I don’t think that an exam and cleaning cost $200 (which is what our insurance is worth if we each went to the dentist once a year for a cleaning.)  If an exam and cleaning is, say, $80, it may be worth it to just drop our dental insurance and self insure.  I can save $160 a year to pay for dental expenses.

Of course, if we have cavities that need to be filled, or a crown replaced then it is worth it to have dental insurance, even though we have to pay for half of those procedures out of pocket.  I know that over the course of time that we’ve been going to this dentist, I’ve had a few cavities filled and a crown put on.  Eventually, I’ll have to have that crown replaced (which I just found out today that they only last 10-15 years).  It would be nice to have dental insurance then to cover those items.

Dental insurance is one of those things that I think that we could live without.  I’d be willing to take a chance that we’d need to have a cavity filled and have to pay out of pocket.  Teeth don’t generally have the potential to cost you thousands of dollars each year versus, say cancer, so I’d be more likely to pay for health insurance versus dental insurance.

I don’t know if dental insurance is a normal benefit offered to employees, but I am grateful that I have the option to take advantage of it.  Chances are, I’ll get on Mr. Money to make sure that he makes an appointment to get his teeth cleaned and examined so that at least he’ll take advantage of one of the two cleanings covered by our insurance this year.  I hate wasting money, and I feel like I should have gotten a cleaning 6 months ago to make our dental insurance worth it.

I have a love-hate relationship with insurance.  It’s a necessity for some things (car insurance, homeowners insurance, health insurance) but sometimes I wish there were easier options.

Do you have dental insurance? Do you think I should get dental insurance for next year, or skip it and self insure?

The other day I received our car insurance premium bills in the mail (along with our homeowners insurance policy bill, car tag registration on both cars, plus a driver’s license renewal notification!). We put aside money each month in an ING savings account nicknamed “car insurance” so that when the time comes, I transfer the money to our main account and pay the bill. It works out really well for us, and I am glad that we are able to pay six months worth of car insurance at a time. By paying in full for six months, we receive a discount and avoid paying a monthly installment fee.

photo credit: aresauburn™

Owning and operating a car is a huge expense. Every year, you’ve got depreciation, registration and tags, and car insurance to pay for. Seeing that Mr. Money and I keep getting older, our insurance premiums will hopefully stay the same or decrease a little as our cars age and we supposedly become more responsible. I’ll tell you though- when I opened my car insurance bill, I never expected that our 8 year old car would cost more to insure than our 5 year old vehicle!!

For six months worth of car insurance on our 2005 Ford Freestyle, we paid 255.15.

For six months worth of car insurance on our 2002 Ford Mustang, we paid 305.10!

I think it’s crazy that a vehicle that is three years older and worth less than the other costs more to insure. I guess that’s part of the expense of owning a sports car.

I’ll tell you- the next vehicle I own will either be a hybrid that is a few years old so that I can save money on gas, or it will be a compact car like the Ford Focus. I’m done with owning gas hogs and sports cars! I don’t put enough value into driving a sports car to make it worth the extra expense.

I should be glad that our car insurance is only 305.10 for six months on the Mustang. I know at one point we paid around $500 a month with Geico to insure the vehicle. Of course, I was also 20 years old, so that probably was a huge factor. All in all, I’m thankful that our car insurance is now something we can easily afford, and have the means to pay it in full for six months. I’m just still surprised that the older car costs more to insure.

Did the insurance rates affect which type of vehicle you purchased? How much is your car insurance?

Let’s talk about health insurance options. Mainly, let’s talk about my health insurance options.  I’m a planner (obviously), and I’m kind of stuck as far as options go.  You see, when we finally have a baby, I want to be a stay at home mom.  It’s one of my hopes and dreams, and I really want it to come true.  There’s one little problem, though.  Mr. Money’s current employer only offers private health insurance and not only would it be really expensive, but I’m afraid I’d be denied coverage due to the cancer scare I had a few years ago (thankfully I didn’t have cancer, but I’m afraid they’ll see oncologist and freak out).

photo credit: brdwatchr1

Uninsured and Pregnant?

My plan is to work until I have the baby so all my maternity care is covered by my current insurance through the bank, and then before I go on maternity leave I will tell my employer that I will not be returning after the baby is born.  That sounds like a good plan to me.

After the baby is born and I’m staying at home, we need health insurance.  It’s something I don’t really want to live without.  These are the options I’ve come up with:

1. Be uninsured.  Not a good idea, but I could save up more money and have that as “health insurance”.  Honestly, I don’t think I could sleep at night, but it’s still an option.

2. Participate in a program like Medi Share.  Of course, I’d have to make sure I met those requirements, but I think I could swing that.

3. Purchase a policy through Mr. Money’s employer and hope we get covered.  It would be really expensive, but at least we’d have coverage.

4. Use COBRA.  I think this would be too expensive too, but it would be good coverage.

5. Mr. Money gets a new job that offers health insurance benefits. (He’s a chef)

6. Become really rich in some way and not have to worry about the cost of health insurance (ha!)

I know that there will be a lot of people that will tell me to just keep working, but I’m trying to come up with some creative options.

What would you do about health insurance if you were in my shoes?

photo credit: betsyweber

With all the buzz about health care reform, it’s easy to get wrapped in a discussion about health insurance. Health insurance is a great thing to have, and I’m thankful my employer offers decent health insurance. Ultimately, my husband and I would like to have a baby and have me be a stay at home mom. Unfortunately, my husband’s work offers individual health care plans, and as it stands today, I’d be denied coverage, not to mention the exorbitant cost. One day while listening to the radio, an ad came on for Medi Share, which is “Christian care medical sharing”. I was intrigued, and wanted to check it out because it sounded too good to be true.

How Medi Share works

Medi Share is not health insurance. It is a group of people that come together to help each other pay their medical costs.

From their website:

Each month, Medi-Share matches up member’s monthly share amounts with other member’s eligible medical needs and facilitates the direct sharing of those costs between them. It’s a modern-day version of what the church started back in the book of Acts.

From what I understand, each month you send a check to someone in need of money for medical care. There are stipulations, such as you must lead a Christian lifestyle, no engaging in sex outside of Christian marriage, have someone at a church vouch for your faith, and cannot use tobacco or any other types of drugs.

I think it’s a great idea, but I don’t think it’s something I’d feel comfortable with. What if you needed money, someone sent you a check, and it bounced? You’d be in trouble then. I like the idea knowing that an insurance company has my back when something happens and I need it.

Have you heard of Medi Share? Would you be comfortable with a health insurance alternative like this?

Working in a bank has many benefits. Not only do I collect a paycheck every two weeks, but I also get benefits and the ability to network with our clients. So when one of the insurance agents came into the bank one day and asked me about my homeowners and car insurance, I was open to discussing it with him because he did business with us. He seems trustworthy, and I like him.  I gave him our drivers license numbers, the make and model of our cars, and he went back to the office to get me a quote.  The next day, he gave me a call.

For six months, our 2005 Ford Freestyle is $240.35, and our 2002 Ford Mustang is $287.24.  Total that is going to cost us $527.59.  We were paying $727.39, so of course I was ecstatic!  Of course I’d like to save $200 for six months!  I made sure that the coverage was the same limits (it’s actually better!), plus the deductible was the same.  The quote he gave us included a $500 deductible versus the $1000 we had before, so it was even better!

We told him we’d go ahead with it, and that he could go ahead and do our homeowners too.  He gave us a quote, and it was $40 less a year, so we went with it.  I feel better knowing the agent and that if we ever need anything, he is local and we can get a hold of him pretty easily.  Score!

Today in the mail I got a check back for $270 because we had paid for six months ahead of time with our old car insurance company.  I’m going to take that check and send it straight to the car loan. We won’t need it to go back in the car insurance account at ING because the money we had in there was enough to pay for the six months in full!

All in all, I am very pleased that we are saving so much money.  It feels good that something worked out so well!  I am almost kicking myself that I didn’t look into it sooner.  That feels like money we’ve been throwing away.

Have you gotten a quote on your insurance lately?

The other day my car insurance came due and I decided to call to see if I would get a discount for paying in full for six months versus paying monthly. We’ve always had our auto insurance automatically deducted from our checking account, and I recently noticed that they’ve been charging us a $2 fee to do so. I thought that was stupid, considering we could pull the six months of car insurance out of savings if we needed to and then just pay it in full.

When I talked with the customer service representative, I was informed that my new premium for six months would be $846.82. We had been paying $744 for six months. Our insurance went up over $100 for no reason! I was so mad. I asked her why that had happened, because we have had no tickets, accidents, etc. (Knock on wood) She said something about the state we live in and blah blah blah and I told her that I would hate to have to switch insurance companies because I really liked them, but I’d obviously have to shop around. She then started asking me a series of questions to see if she could get our premium lowered.

We got a discount for multiple car (which makes no sense, because we’ve always had multiple cars with them), homeowners (we’ve owned for over two years), and some other things I can’t remember. She got it down to $727.39, which is actually less than we were paying before! I am so happy. I didn’t even have to shop around.  I’m still thinking about doing it because we’ve got excellent credit, but I don’t want a bunch of inquiries on my credit report.

I’m going to be transferring $133 a month to a special savings account so that next time it’s due I can just transfer it from there into my checking account and pay it.   I think that’s a good plan, and I feel much better knowing that I am not getting ripped off.  I’m happy.  It works for me!

Yesterday I received an “explanation of benefits” from my health insurance company in the mail for my surgery I had a couple weeks ago.  I ripped open the envelope and my heart stopped.  $10,375.25.  My surgery cost over $10,000!  I have been awaiting the hospital bill for awhile because I knew it was going to take a chunk out of our budget.  I was assuming that the surgery would cost $5,000 on the high end, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw that it was twice what I had estimated!

I had planned on paying about $1250 for my co insurance since I have met my deductible this year.  That was really worrying me.  I pay 20% for surgery after my deductible is met.  20% of $10,000 is $2,000, $750 more than I had anticipated!  I looked over the letter and discovered that after the discounts the hospital gave my insurance company, I’m going to be paying about $250.  I can’t tell you how happy I am!  The rest of that money can sit comfortably in our emergency fund.

It amazes me that the insurance companies get such a large discount from hospitals.  Of course, I am elated, but it still blows my mind.  I am so happy we have good health insurance even if I do pay a lot each paycheck.  It just so happens we are in open enrollment at work right now and I have to choose a new health plan.  I’m considering going with a high deductible health plan but they scare me.  I need to sit down and figure out which one will work best for our family.  It’s very intimidating!

I am so thankful I am not going to have to pay as much as I had thought.  Now I can sleep better at night!

What kind of health insurance plan do you have? 

I’ve decided for many reasons that I’m not continuing my job hunt. Of course, if someone called me and was going to offer me a spectacular job, I wouldn’t turn them down. I’ve just decided that I’m not going to be aggressive in searching for a new job. Why? There are a few reasons.

I got bad news from the doctor on Wednesday. The biopsy surgery that I had two weeks ago came back severely abnormal. This is the second time I’ve had this type of surgery, and it was supposed to get rid of the precancerous cells. Both times. To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. I’m pretty much heartbroken and a mess. But, I’m going to get through it and I will be stronger after I have this surgery. There’s a reason for everything, right? I just don’t want to be changing jobs and then get hired on somewhere and my insurance won’t cover my “pre extisting condition”. That would stink. Also, I’ve met my out of pocket deductible for my health insurance this year. I’d have to start all over again somewhere else. That doesn’t sound like fun to me!

My salary plus bonuses is an amount I’m pretty happy with. Of course, I’d love a raise, but who wouldn’t? I figure if I can tough it out for another year or so, maybe I’ll be able to go part time when we have children. I’d love to pay down more debt and save as much as we can. With me sticking it out in my current position, that will give us enough money to be able to do that. We just have to be very dedicated! We can do it.

I’m used to my current job, I know the ins and outs, and I can carpool with co workers to save money. I am comfortable in what I do and where I work.  Why change it?

The ultimate reason is for the health insurance, of course.  If something horrible happens to me (which I really hope it doesn’t) then I know I am covered by my current health insurance.  Thank God for that! I’m going to keep plugging away, doing the best I can, and hopefully will come out of this stronger than before.  I’m going to “keep on keeping on”!