Insure-Me-Woes

Like most people my age, 26 brings with it not just another year, but also the loss of... dun dun dun! Insurance! Health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, they're all goooooone! And just for me, my student loans and car insurance also happen to come due this month, because when it rains it pours people.

Putting aside the major suck that is going to be forking over the contents of my bank account for insurance every month, losing coverage also means I have to cram all the fun and scintillating medical procedures I don't really want to have into the next two weeks.

Since continuing my current coverage through cobra isn't an option, unless I want to pay triple individual rates, it looks like I will not be buying a separate dental or vision plan. That makes vision and dental stuff top priority to get done before I lose my coverage.

Thus far, my to do list is:

• An eye exam - No changes, all good
• Order backup glasses - Still need to do, and quickly!
• Dental cleaning - Check!
• Oral surgery consultation - Done!
• Gum graft surgery - Ugh. Next week.
• Apply for Health Insurance - Don't have any words for this one. I still haven't done it yet although I've done all the pre-work. 

 

Genetically, people on my sperm donor's side of the family have crappy mouths.  They have genetically sucky gums in the front, genetically missing teeth and a whole host of other weird dental stuff. Luckily, I've escaped almost everything. I've never had a cavity and my teeth are great, but it's become apparent that the bastard gave me his shitty gums in One tiny spot. Literally just one teensy spot while the rest are perfect. I have to have a little graft to fix it and it looks like I'll be squeezing it in just under the wire, literally days before my coverage ends. Even with the coverage I'm sure I'll still be out at least a grand, but it's better than owing the whole bill.

Now I just need to decide which insurance plan I want. It's all unnecessarily complicated - Co-payments? Deductibles? Out of Pocket Max? Do I want an HMO? A PPO? Ugh. It's all so much more expensive than it should be, and it seems that no matter how I slice it, I'll end up paying either upfront, ie month to month, or in the end, with a deductible. I've got to get a better handle on what each plan means.

Laid Off

Well, it looks like it's finally happening. After hanging it over my head since December, my boss decided to give me my two-ish weeks notice last Friday. It wasn't personal, she loves my work, there just isn't anything left for me to do. I will admit that even though I was expecting it, it sucked worse than I thought it would.

Somehow, I was hoping to stay employed through the summer. E's work is largely seasonal, since it follows the sports calendar, and as of right now he has no work after the end of April. It's going to be a real challenge with both of us unemployed at the same time, and makes me especially grateful that we didn't move out. 

In addition to looking for new work, I'm probably going to be applying to some graduate programs. I'm leaning towards an online MPH program since it would allow me to work and be a stepping stone to an MD/DO or DPH. Does anyone have any insight as to which program would be best? Go for a masters? Go straight for a doctorate?

I'm probably most upset by the way this completely derails our "life plan" which was contingent on me maintaining a consistent source of income. It feels like I'm letting our relationship down.

Sigh.

Laid Off For Christmas

 
The day before Christmas eve, my boss sat down across from me in her office and informed me that she would be laying me off in January. While it came as no surprise, and I had been mentally preparing myself for over a month, it still sucked royally. The project that I've been working on has come to a grinding halt and my boss has been giving me off jobs to fill my time. Nothing thus far has indicated that my project will be picking up so I don't blame them for laying me off. I'm going to be the fourth person they've let go in the past two months.

Unfortunately, if you're looking at salaries, I am the primary breadwinner for my family and we're going to have to do some monetary acrobatics to make things run smoothly. I had hoped to be at this job for at least two years before grad school, and all our financial plans are built around that timeline. We just recently met our first savings goal and moved up our next since we were doing so well. Without my job, there's no way we'll be meeting that goal or any others anytime soon, even though E is working his butt off and doing extremely well. I'm really proud of him and the incredible progress he's made in his field and I feel like I'm letting our family down. We're pushing back our plans to replace E's car, move out and start a family. I think I'm more upset about that than the actual loss of my job.

I'm not sure when my official last day will be, and I'm hoping my boss draws it out as much as possible. Each day I stay employed is another check we can put towards our bills. Our December and January bills are always out of control with all the holiday happenings and this lay off could not have come at a worse time (as if there's ever a good time to get laid off!). I've been checking around for other jobs for a couple weeks now and haven't found a single opening in anything remotely related to my field. Finding a new job was not originally one of my New Years resolutions but you can bet it's on the list now.

(Old) New Years Resolutions:

1. Lose Weight Gained Since Wedding

2. Train Dog

3. Pick Grad Program

4. Save, Save, Save

(New) New Years Resolutions:

*****1. Find Job*****

2. Other Stuff

By the way, I'm mildly disturbed by the amount of laid off cartoons on the internet. I typed "laid off" into google images hoping to get a few good ones and instead found roughly a million. This is not a good time to be unemployed.

Post Graveyard

Dead Blogosphere,

It has come to my attention that I have not one, not two, but SEVENTEEN unfinished posts in my account. This is a clear indication of how infrequently I've been publicizing the stuff I write and I promise I'll try not to suck so hard in the future.

Since I'm already here, I want to congratulate C and Z on the birth of their baby girl, Luciana. She is adorable and they are already making great parents.

Welcome to the world baby Lucy! Happy 1 week on the planet.