In another blog, I touched on this subject, but the focus wasn't employment based. Anyways, between 2005-2006, I was a medical librarian in a hospital library. I had quit a fulltime job working at Target where I had a pension and health insurance. Target sucked, but the insurance was cheaper than the hospital's.
I was laidoff from the hospital. I was replaced by cheaper non-professionals, oddly, when minimum wage increased on the fall ballot... just in time of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
My insurance was through my wife's employer. I forget who we had, probably Humana because my Anthem wasn't accepted at the rival hospital and I had Anthem through Target. I originally got insurance through Target because my wife's insurance in fall of 2003, Medical Mutual, didn't cover my primary physician.
In 2003, we had family coverage from both employers, because my wife was 9 months pregnant and it made sense to have coverage where her insurance had gaps.
Yes, my wife was 9 months pregnant and Anthem accepted her and the claims without incident. Being part of a group insurance policy means "pre-existing" conditions didn't disqualify coverage.
We kept 2 insurance carriers until 2005. I tried to cancel my plan when I totalled my car to save $140 a month, but I couldn't until the enrollment period changed with J's employer in January. Very fortunate, for the well baby coverage on J's insurance was capped at $500, so we would have paid for everything out of pocket when K turned 1 that December. Also, J's insurance changed from Medical Mutual, so my doctor was in-network with new provider.
Insurance through the hospital would have been $140 a paycheck, and we got paid bi-weekly. J's insurance at the time was $140 out of the first paycheck of the month.
I could be wrong. I could look at our w-2s and verify, but why should I for this blog? My memory and word should be enough for you to believe me regarding stuff from 2003-2006, right?
Having 2 insurances seems redundant now, but the gaps in coverage were significant. We had already pre-paid for K's birth by the time we got the 2nd coverage, so we had a significant refund when he was born. When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in fall of 2003, I used to see a therapist of some sort bi-weekly. I didn't have to pay co-pays when I had 2 insurances. I forget what the co-pays were each time, but they were annoying at the time so probably $20-$35 a visit.
Not sure if it was worthwhile to have double coverage, but it definitely made sense at the time.
Working in a hospital, one would think the insurance would be good if not more affordable... it wasn't. The in-network coverage was limited to those affiliated with the hospital.
Before I got laid-off, K had surgery for ear tubes, I forget the cost, but it was expensive to us at the time. We probably have documentation of the cost, but it was covered by insurance before we had a high deductible so it probably wasn't too hateful by today's standards...
K had a severe speech delay from his inability to hear prior to his getting tubes. Our insurance at the time DID NOT COVER SPEECH THERAPY UNLESS IT WAS TO HELP AFTER A STROKE OR SEIZURE EVENT. Thankfully, K qualified for pre-school when he turned 3 and we got grant money from someone through Help Me Grow so we had private speech sessions. I was receiving unemployment, so I was able to drive K to speech every Friday until the $ ran out. He qualified for bussing, but he couldn't talk and was so little, J felt it best I took him to school and back.
Being laid-off was bad, but it worked out for us in the long run.
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