On Thursday, the bad news I've been dreading for the past 6 months finally came in all at once. My wife's employer is no longer offering health insurance and we just got the renewal rates from my employer.
My employer is dropping down it's contribution towards the plan and rates have gone up significantly (over 20%). Our high deductible plan is now going to cost in the ballpark of $1,100/month or around $13,000/year.
My wife is pregnant and it looks like the birth will happen until Jan 3 or 4th. We originally had hoped that the OB could induce on Dec 29, to help make things more affordable (in and out of the hospital before the end of the plan year). It doesn't look like this is an option any more.
We really don't have room in our budget to pay that much per month. The plan has a high deductible, so we'd have to pay $1,100/month plus making repayments to the hospital (they want $300/month for 18 months). We already paid for our prenatal care, $2,500 which drained our HSA account.
I can always go to the VA but if I drop our family plan, my wife and kid will no longer be covered under anything. No private plan will insure a pregnant woman. We make too much for Medicaid and she's ineligible under our state's high risk pool because she hasn't had a 6 month lapse in coverage and is eligible for a group plan through me (it doesn't matter that it's too expensive).
Things are really bad right now. I currently work about 60 hours a week and am happy to have a job but my wife was cut down to 30 hours and is in a high risk pregnancy.
We really don't know what to do. It seems like our options are:
1) Keep the current family plan and pay for it by eliminating retirement contributions and taking out a second mortgage.
2) Drop insurance entirely and pay the hospital in cash and hope to God that nothing bad happens. If the baby winds up in the NICU or there are other complications, bankruptcy would always be an option. The worst part of it all is that the price I was quoted for a vaginal delivery was close to 2x more expensive w/out insurance.
3) Get a divorce and remarry after the baby is born and the medical expenses have been worked out. She'd be eligible for Medicaid if it weren't for my income.
I'm getting an ulcer and can't sleep from the stress of all of this. I can't be the only one in this situation. What has everyone else done?
My employer is dropping down it's contribution towards the plan and rates have gone up significantly (over 20%). Our high deductible plan is now going to cost in the ballpark of $1,100/month or around $13,000/year.
My wife is pregnant and it looks like the birth will happen until Jan 3 or 4th. We originally had hoped that the OB could induce on Dec 29, to help make things more affordable (in and out of the hospital before the end of the plan year). It doesn't look like this is an option any more.
We really don't have room in our budget to pay that much per month. The plan has a high deductible, so we'd have to pay $1,100/month plus making repayments to the hospital (they want $300/month for 18 months). We already paid for our prenatal care, $2,500 which drained our HSA account.
I can always go to the VA but if I drop our family plan, my wife and kid will no longer be covered under anything. No private plan will insure a pregnant woman. We make too much for Medicaid and she's ineligible under our state's high risk pool because she hasn't had a 6 month lapse in coverage and is eligible for a group plan through me (it doesn't matter that it's too expensive).
Things are really bad right now. I currently work about 60 hours a week and am happy to have a job but my wife was cut down to 30 hours and is in a high risk pregnancy.
We really don't know what to do. It seems like our options are:
1) Keep the current family plan and pay for it by eliminating retirement contributions and taking out a second mortgage.
2) Drop insurance entirely and pay the hospital in cash and hope to God that nothing bad happens. If the baby winds up in the NICU or there are other complications, bankruptcy would always be an option. The worst part of it all is that the price I was quoted for a vaginal delivery was close to 2x more expensive w/out insurance.
3) Get a divorce and remarry after the baby is born and the medical expenses have been worked out. She'd be eligible for Medicaid if it weren't for my income.
I'm getting an ulcer and can't sleep from the stress of all of this. I can't be the only one in this situation. What has everyone else done?
