I’ve been at the same job 26 years but it is closing down 12/31. I have new employment lined up starting a couple weeks after which offers health insurance at no cost, but if I decline the insurance, I can get an accordingly higher salary.
DH is on his own policy (self-employed) that is great and would have been my obvious choice but Wellmark won’t let him add me and that plan is no longer offered.
If I get my own, I can come out (a little) money ahead if I get a Bronze high deductible plan and stay healthy. If I move up to better plans or take the employer plan, the money is pretty much a wash either way I go (taking into account pre-tax, payroll tax, comparable benefits, etc). The benefit to getting my own is I guess having more control/not having any gaps in coverage between jobs. The benefit to taking employer’s would be it wouldn’t affect me when the premium goes up each year. And I do hope/plan to stay there till retirement.
Anything else I’m not thinking of that should push me one way or the other? I’m an accountant and I feel silly for not being able to come to a conclusion about this.
High deductible is one thing, but check the out of pocket max. In the event of catastrophic illness or accident, that is what you’d be looking at paying.
I don’t know that having as one of the reasons of not having any gaps between employment is a good reason to buy your own coverage and keep it. Since you’re planning on staying there till retirement, this would be just this one time gap. That can be filled with having a short term catastrophic policy, and maybe an option is to just go uninsured, counting on if something major happens, you still could select Cobra after the fact for a few months. That is, if it works that way, I’m not sure. Normally I’d say never to be uncovered. Not sure if you can even get any insurance that starts in three weeks at this point, though. How long do you have to make a choice?
Another thing that stands out to me is that you’re considering the best possible scenario for paying for your own insurance, you stay healthy and barely use it. That’s pretty tough to plan for, and I think I’d plan for the worst. I personally would lean towards company insurance (if they have a decent plan), as health insurance costs just keep rocketing up, it’s nice to have comprehensive insurance where you don’t have to avoid getting care, and if your company pays you more, it’s all going to be taxed anyways.
Another thought is, if your husband loses his insurance for some reason, with company insurance you can generally add a spouse on to the policy for not much additional cost. If you’re paying for your policy, well, then you double it and not likely your company will pay you more. I’m going on pure assumptions here.
I’m a little wary of the exchange plans. Can’t they change dramatically year to year? How much on an subsidy are you getting with the exchange, if any?
But the biggest issue I have with them is that they generally don’t cover doctors out of state. I live in a rural area on a state line. I can get to 3 great hospitals in 1:00-1:30 - but they are across the state line. The closest good large hospital to me in-state is 2:30 away. This might not affect you, but check to see what doctors are covered under each plan.
To answer a couple of questions, my current plan did provide a place that could get me temporary coverage within a day. And I’d be getting no subsidy on marketplace.
I think you’ve all helped me decide to get the employer insurance. This employment should be quite stable and the premiums are going to go up every year so I’ll make that their problem. I am taking a pay cut (at least to start) so I think I had a mental block about the salary that looked higher lol. I am getting other benefits like remote work, every Friday off, less responsibility, and a retirement plan so all in all it will be a good move for me!
It sounds like you made a great choice (and a better lifestyle with the new job; congratulations!). But another option would have been COBRA’ing your old plan for a while to see how it goes and snoozing the decision.
One can only snooze for a month or so when starting a new job. Then the new employee enrollment window closes, and you will have to wait until next open enrollment period which usually happens in November-December timeframe with coverage starting on January 1 of the following year.
I’m glad you’re going with your employer’s insurance. I would give anything for that! The cheapest policy I could find is $1,000/ month in 2025 and it’s crappy. The premiums have double digit percentage increases every year, too. 2 years, 7 months to go until Medicare, sigh.
In retirement, pre-65 I have access to my employer insurance. For 2025 it will be $900/month (self-only). Not crappy insurance, but not nearly as the good old days 10+ years ago before I started doing high deductible options. My plan has “only” $3600 deductible (waived for preventive care, including mammogram and colonoscopy). The key advantage is that max out of pocket is “only” $6900. Both figures are better than many high deductible plans on the exchange. I’ve not come close yet to meeting the deductible, but it’s nice knowing it (and max oop) is relatively low-ish.
One thing to consider is that if you have your own policy, your husband should be able to deduct the premiums from tax as he is self employed, just like he does his own, as well as potentially using pre-tax money to pay out of pocket expenses via an HSA (if you take a high deductible policy). It doesn’t matter that you are not on his policy. Did you factor that in to the cost comparison?
If an employer is “closing down” as OP suggested, then COBRA may not be available. It is a major issue if your employer goes out of business, though at least the exchange options are available if coverage is lost.