The Good Life on a Budget

• Posted by JvW on October 8th, 2008 filed in Insurance, work

My husband switched jobs a little more than a month ago, and one of the perks of his new job is the amazing benefits package. Aside from 3 weeks vacation (woo!), his company completely covers health insurance premiums. 100%. And the health insurance company is Harvard Pilgrim, which we had a few years ago and LOVED. So we jumped all over this and signed up immediately.

I was a little nervous to cancel my health insurance, because I thought I would have to jump through hoops. My company has Open Enrollment every January, but I didn’t want to wait 3 months (and have 2 health insurances). Fortunately, a spouse gaining coverage counts as a “qualifying event” for my health plan, so I was able to cancel my coverage. (Other qualifying events included spouse loss of coverage & new dependent.) All I had to do was fax in a form and a letter from Harvard Pilgrim stating that we had new coverage.

As soon as it was officially cancelled, I calculated my savings. Every paycheck I pay $89.76 for my health insurance. This doesn’t include dental or vision insurance, but I am keeping those with my company for the time being. I get paid every other week, or 26 times a year. Thus, over the course of a year, we will save $2333.76! Now, if I got lazy and waited until January to cancel my health insurance during Open Enrollment, I would have paid another $538.56 before 2009. That money sure will come in handy for Christmas debt payoff!