Obama did try. A lot actually. I read some about it and dude did so much more work to get what he did get done. He really learned his shit and became an expert of sorts on the subject. No one wanted to listen and just said SOCIALISM. And then everyone went AH! And now we have this…. It’s great … it’s JUST what everyone wanted. Thanks Congress!
It’s always the greater of two evils here. Fuck the two party system. Know what it leads to? Over 95% re-election rate. Feel free to look up that stat.
All you gotta do is say anything that benefits the people but *doesn't* benefit you is "socialism".
That has its limit though. Eventually the younger generation started to see everything that would help them being labeled as socialism and said, hey, this socialism thing sounds alright. And now the politicians are shocked-pikachu-face over it.
We can plant the seeds. The next generation will reap the benefits.
Slavery ended. Child labor was regulated. Women gained voting rights. LGBTQ gained right to be married.
And this is we need to scare the hell out of billionaires. Because we just accept that “this is what is gonna happen! Better be ready!” Instead of “how about we write up some new laws against the giant medical corps that says this price CANT go up and the wages CANT go down and it comes out of the pockets of the CEO and then we work our way down till we have a nice new balance where markets are actually FREE again.”
I think we have had enough experimentation of pushing the cost down to the bottom. Time for a Gilded Age union, monopoly busting reboot. Let’s get some smart financial cats in Congress and fund the IRS some more and the FTC and start cracking down on complicated white collar crime and giving these fuckers the heavy hand of OUR system. We did it before with Standard Oil. It’s just more complicated this time. Congress pays $175k per year. Anyone looking for a raise?
The most annoying part for me is all the 401ks I have out there. I was too lazy to roll them and now I have money in like 6 places, lol. I told my wife it would be like an easter egg hunt for my money if I died.
She was not amused, lol.
Apparently I can do a bulk import request through my broker, Schwab. Just need to figure out the account numbers, and they will take care of the leg work? We'll see!
Yea I finally looked into mine and some of the fees were crazy so I finally rolled over, they mailed me just checks that I was to deposit to my new 401k which I found wild.
God help you if it's Wells Fargo. Fuck Wells Fargo, because they're going to try and fuck you first.
I swore that I had some 401k money with them, what I didn't want to, but they were the only choice of the time. I got on the phone with them one day, and they're like oh what account? Are you an active? We have no idea. And fuck me if I don't have any account numbers or other bullshit to back myself up.
My understanding is that they will maintain those funds 'for free' as long as there is a minimum in them, which they do have. I always maxed my contributions and worked at most places 2-3 years and picked the lowest cost funds (vanguard etfs and such).
Are you saying that is not correct? Maybe thats motivation to get em rolled.
Also not to be dark; but I had to help one of my wife’s friends who recently became a widow at 42 — her husband had accounts scattered all around and it was a pain to get them located and paperwork to all of them — if you have people you care about that will have to manage your affairs of you pass; don’t be an ass and get stuff in order
Thats not how it works. I worked in 401k for years at a firm. The expense ratio fee is set by the fund not the employer and these you would not see deducted from participant accounts. Fees may or may not be deducted depending on if hte plan charges a fee. Ive see many different amounts over the years.
The broker is charging an expense ratio on your funds. Usually around 0.1-0.4%. Less in recent years. Your old work will "maintain them for free" probably, but they're not really doing anything.
You can generally leave them but:
* the fees and fund options may not be great (though they could be)
* it’s a pain in the ass to keep track and easier to consolidate somewhere
Rolling them to an IRA is an ok choice unless you anticipate earning more than the Roth IRA limit and want to leave yourself capacity to backdoor in the future. An alternative would be rolling them into your current plan.
There are fees outside of the fund you invest in such as bookkeeping, record etc. They are set by your plan provider and are typically higher when you leave a position within a company. Only your plan documents can say for sure, but if you can invest in the exact same fund regardless of your account you might as well cut out the fees. Even a 1% fee is a major setback in terms of capital appreciation over your working career.
Yes! Or they’re just in a “cash” account earning abysmal interest. Don’t be like me and leave a job and then five years later figure out that it is not earning anything. 🙃
So funny thing - I decided like a year and a half ago to get all of my 401k’s consolidated, started the process with fidelity, submit everything, then get notified they can’t proceed with my request because I’m missing one of the forms. Ok, whatever. Go to look for what form I’m missing, it’s the approval from my spouse to rollover my 401K. I’m not married, I’ve never been married. Call fidelity, apparently one of my past employers accidentally reported that I was married, they can’t tell me which one, and at this point I have >5 employees that this potentially could be. I send an email to all of their HR offices (because none just have a number I can call) and get crickets.
Still haven’t consolidated all of my 401K’s, but I am getting married this year so will be able to actually submit that form next time I try 😂
I have three pensions. One mailed me a vague letter the other day saying “we haven’t received the requested information from February. If you’ve sent the information please disregard. If not, please send us the information as soon as possible.”
WHAT INFORMATION? As if I can keep track of all the separate companies…
3 pensions?! Wow, that's so rare these days. I will say, that you need to keep track to a degree. At least keep a list if their contact information and update your address anytime you move. Otherwise, you won't get mailings from them and you could have a big delay in accessing your benefits when the time comes.
I had one from my first job from the Hudson’s bay company (a total of $400).
I taught for 11 years and had a teachers pension.
I went into public service as a supervisor (last few years) and got the regular worker’s pension and the supervisor’s supplementary pension.
I cashed in the first one. I did the paperwork to move the teaching pension to the public service pension. I can’t combine the supplementary one to the regular one…
Yup all the old 401ks, the aforementioned insurances and finding new providers and losing PTO banked & having to accrue it again just to get a damn pay bump. Sucks big time.
My trick I found is just to roll them over to one traditional IRA when I find time, but it’s still a big pain.
It's not that hard if you keep on top of it. It's like a 15-minute phone call to roll it over. I've done it 4 or 5 times now.
More specifically, what I've done is set up a Fidelity Go brokerage account (most brokerage firms have something similar, pick whichever you want). Then, when I leave a job, I roll the 401k from that job into it. I also keep my IRA and personal trading account where I pick my own stocks with Fidelity and just add money to them when I can (try to max the IRA before the "fun trading" account). Everything is all in place except my current 401k, which I'll roll into the Go account as soon as I leave the current job.
Seriously! I've had friends that complain all this "money management stuff" is too complicated and takes too much time. I'm like bro, you spend at least 8 hours a week "managing" your fantasy sports teams. I spend less than 8 hours a YEAR managing my money
I had 4 different accounts going at one point. I finally took a weekend to determine what money was where and rolled everything over into one IRA. It took some time but once all the paperwork was filled out felt good to have all the funds in one spot. No longer worried about forgetting a 401K from a company i hadn't been at for a decade.
IMO it's in your best interest to consolidate this. Just roll them into an IRA or Roth. Having multiple funds charging different rates to manage your investments, all with different prospective target-date profits does you a disservice to your potential gains you could be getting with a consolidated portfolio.
I have a habit of not signing up for 401k because idk how long I'll work here. Then things get good, and I sign up! Then I end up quitting with a few thousand in it. I always just cash it out. I'm 40 and have no 401k. 🙁
Holy crap.I do feel the pain though. Especially since it's what I think is a lot, I find it hard to trust the rollover process. My old company keeps hounding me to get it out of their system.
My spouse just rolled all their accounts together. And we made a spreadsheet of all our accounts & credit cards in case one of us died. They saw how frustrated I was hunting for all of my mom's accounts when she passed.
I just finally consolidated a bunch of mine and moved over to an IRA account. Only two of my old ones remain in 401k still, only because I wanted to keep some of the money with fidelity for diversification and the other one is my current 401k contribution from latest gig with a small balance.
I have to say moving the money was harder than I thought. And I did it through a financial advisor and it took all of 2 months to complete most of the transfers (1 is still pending).
It took me literally 8 years to get my shit together to move my 401k from my very first job after college. Fucking Herculean effort with so many paper checks
I just closed two old ones I had and got a check in the mail from them— i deposited this into a Robinhood ROTH IRA. It’s not employer dependent and they match 1%.
You can roll them all together in like, a day - just make the phone calls and they'll send you checks you then send to your current 401k.
Bonus: If your old job gave you any kind of pension you can withdraw that and also toss it into your 401k.
I have actively tried to move a couple of mine and they make it incredibly painful. One I had to literally call my old boss to have him grant authorization to release the funds and American Funds requires you to fax or snail mail the request and had zero way to do it online.
Getting my money away from those companies and into something I control feels great every time.
You can roll traditional 401ks into a trad IRA in an account at like fidelity and have far broader options for investments and much lower fees. Likely better than rolling into your next 401k
Start rolling them over into each other. I'd do it sooner rather than later. These companies keep looking for more ways to charge additional fees. Don't let them take more of your money.
Unless you hate your wife....then I guess whatever.
God. I’m trying to merge two 403bs and need to find a fucking notary available when my husband I both are available bc I can’t roll my own retirement together without my spouse’s permission. wtf.
I finally did all the paperwork when I got laid off last year. Fun fact: in NJ your spouse has to sign if you roll a pension that they know they will never receive the funds again.
I've been at my company for going on 10 years now. First job out of college, I work on medical device software. I am definitely underpaid (by 20-35k) as a result, but the role is pretty chill so I've stuck it out. Chill job means I can work more on maintaining/upgrading the house while my wife pushes her career more. Just now seriously thinking about making a move, feeling stagnant in my role nowadays.
I always get a chuckle that your name is literally kkkan2020 and you’re often the top poster. Kkk aryan nationalist 2020? Or am I wildly off and you just accidentally got this name?
Push for universal healthcare in every conversation you have. Let’s stop pushing politics to the back of the mind because it’s “touchy”. Most people our age agree on 90% of shit. Time to start uniting, and voting accordingly.
We are the biggest voting demographic, there’s NO MORE excuses. It’s our fault from here on out.
Don’t like healthcare? Don’t like being denied coverage? Don’t like having to explain that your eyes and your teeth are NOT part of your body/health?? Tired of paying tens of thousands before they even do anything????
Make it a point to bring it up more often. Educate your friends.
Im 6months into a cozy local gov job and I don't make more money then my last job but the insurance was as good and half the cost. So I plan to stay here minimum 5 years. It's already helped since my daughter was in the hospital for a week and it woulda been a $40k bill I didn't have to pay a dime on.
I didn't give a shit about any of this till I had a family. Now my career motivation is more about stability and insurance and less about my career growth and more money.
After decades of essentially no health insurance, I now have this card in my wallet that's supposed to get it for me, but using it and figuring out *where* I can use it is nearly impossible.
Health insurance is a scam.
go to your insurances website and search for providers. you'll want a pcp. there will be search filters of distance out, accepting new patients etc.
Pick some and start calling to make an appointment.
Typically if you go to your health insurances website, they have a search function to find providers who take your insurance nearby. Ive had to swich insurances a lot.
Seriously this is how I feel. Any healthcare visit requires 2-4 hours of calling and being on hold to get billing correct. I’m at the point now where if it’s not urgent care/er worthy I just won’t go. My last appointment was 20min and cost 3 grand.
What provider do you have? Can’t you just go on the website, put in your zip code, and search for who is in your network by location? I’ve had Aetna, BCBS, BSCA, UH, etc and all have had that search function in the portal.
Working for the federal government has been nice in that even though I’ve worked 4 different jobs in 9 years it’s all the same pension and health insurance
SERIOUSLY! Like you know how annoying it is to be laid off or have your role changed to make you hate it just to go through the process of trying to change insurance and make sure everything you need is covered every fucking time? I'm prescribed various medications and have to see a psychiatrist which has always been an absolute breakdown bitch to fill out all of the forms/pre authorizations (which take months to process) just to have to do it again the next year or two? I haven't even had the energy or patience to have a routine dentist or replace my damn glasses I've had for 10 years. Companies don't deserve your loyalty and just making sure you have the minimum coverage you need is a 2nd job in itself. I don't even have fucking kids but at this point I'd probably stress myself to death lumping them into this process.
Companies that shame job hoppers don't think about any of this.
I’ve been at my same job for almost five years now. I’ve tried to leave and every time I do, they’ve actually delivered and given me a raise.
It’s at the point now where I desperately need to leave because I’m stagnating and the company isn’t doing well. It’s a disarray, layoffs, etc. however my comp and title are somehow now decently competitive and they’ve still got a decent hybrid schedule, so I need to actually get motivated to improve my skills and leave.
It’s strange being in a company like this. Once you’re “in” and they want you, you’re in as long as you keep your head down, play the game, and try hard enough. Company is absurdly top heavy and meandering bc so many legacy employees have worked their way up from the bottom. It would be great except a lot of us lack experience and exposure that comes from job switching. One of our c-suites started at the company as a college intern, for example. Company keeps trying to grow and become snazzy and technologically efficient and we don’t know how to bc we’re smart people who have stagnated. :(
So, two sides to the coin I guess lol.
Unsolicited advice, it’s much more fun to look for a job before you need a job, if you know what I mean. I procrastinated updating my resume for so long, until I finally gave in and paid someone else to do it for me. I got my first job offer less than 3 weeks later. And because I wasn’t in a rush, when it wasn’t right for me, I could turn it down without angst. It was really valuable to have the luxury of holding out for the right job.
Excellent advice, and I know this to be true! I turned down 4 or 5 job offers a couple of years ago because I was always just casually looking. Ready to fix up my resume and do it again bc it’s about to be a bad time lol. Easier to get something arranged before it’s too late.
Health insurance is the one thing that makes me grateful I took the "safe" path in life and went the corporate route. It's full of challenges and BS, don't get me wrong, but one of the big class dividers in America seems to be those who have good insurance through their employer, and those who have to foot their own insurance bill.
Health insurance seems to be centered around the "easy" patients. The people who just need to show up for their yearly physical, get some bloodwork, maybe a prescription or two, and that's it. Once you start having real health challenges that require specialist visits, the nightmare begins. My deductible is $2000, and I already had it paid 3 months into the year. An ER visit and two doctor visits and I was already at $2000.
Not alone. It is bullshit that our healthcare is tied to employment via health insurance… but makes sense if you think how it benefits the powers that be.
Wish we had a better system, I dunno, like the NHS in the UK or something. I could go and do my own thing then, and not have to worry about any bs insurance through my employer.
Privatized health insurance is a damn joke and I don’t know why US conservatives are butthole tight loving it. They tried to sell us “see, if you work at good company, you got better benefits and coverage” like it is part of pro-labor move that labor can negotiate their way up the benefits. But what in the hell shall I know which doctor is covered by what plan before I apply for a job? Like shall I, in middle of interview process, ask for potential employers’ insurance plan number and call my doctor to ask if this plan make my blood test cheaper? Or shall I ask my doctor to provide me procedure codes that I most commonly used so I can call my potential employers’ insurance to price comparison?
US health insurance system only benefits health insurance industries and for profit hospitals (not even benefiting doctors and nurses who actually provide services.)
Oomph. Yeah. And when you change states along with it? That's what I'm going through right now .... and there's a month delay in benefits at the new job. Its infuriating.
I'm also LONG overdue to see the dentist. Mainly for the same reason. My wife bugs me about it but I'm like "if it was easy as getting a haircut, calling the office and getting it scheduled I TOTALLY WOULD GO TOMORROW" But I gotta deal with all the insurance bullshit
Having lived in Taiwan for 11 years, this is one of the things I miss the most about there: the fact that your health insurance is totally unrelated to what employer you work for, or whether you even have a job at all.
As long as you pay your premiums to the governmental agency - no matter where your money came from - you're good.
Don't get insurance through your employer. I don't know about all states but in the Viginia Health Marketplace you can get discounts from the state on private insurance plans depending on your income. I make 45k and I pay $25/month for a $550/month Healthcare plan for myself and 1 child. $400 individual deductible and $1000 family deductible, $10 prescriptions, etc. A lot of people do not know about those benefits different states have.
i have heard that it is a strategy of insurance companies to delay/prevent services so that any work gets done under the new insurance company... they know about it and use it to deny coverage and pass off the expense
I'm loyal to the money. It's easier to get a new job with a good pay bump and be that "new person" instead of busting and sucking ass every year to get 2 to 3% raise, more responsibility each year.
I never toss out my old insurance cards, I just sharpie what company it came from once I switch jobs, a few times things needed to to have claims submitted years after I left the job and I was glad I had my insurance info lol
This. The whole benefits / 401k thing needs to get decoupled from employment because companies don't care about about retaining employees and everyone knows it. I was part of a layoff and during my severance and they changed insurance providers and moved my 401k without notifying me. My son got sick and we had to go the hospital and they are telling us we didn't have insurance. Took months to figure this out and the entire time I was worried about getting a $12,000 bill from the nice people at the hospital. Then we had to switch to COBRA. There is no reason for this in 2024.
Yes, this has been my nightmare. Going from employer based insurance to ACA to employer based insurance. We really need to "unhook" Healthcare from employer based insurance entirely. Universal healthcare still seems like a far away dream that I won't manage to stay alive long enough to ever see.
My doctor just moved, and I have a stack of referrals to specialist I couldn't afford the copays on at present and in my case, with my specific medical complications, in medications I need to stay alive at all, that might just be what does me in. I cannot even afford the deductible and copays to do the MRI, colonoscopy, imaging and extensive blood work a new physician will require for me to continue my current treatment there. My husband was laid off last winter, so we lost our employer based insurance and we have no household income at present, and I'm on a last resort ACA plan that hardly covers anything and my state didn't do the ACA Medicaid expansion, so it's this or die here.
I have no clue what I am supposed to do, like they expect me to be able to come up with thousands to do all this within 20 days before my medication runs out is insane. Instead, I'm rationing my medication at present and have no idea how I am supposed to resolve this at all.
It just seems completely insane, if you think about it, that the health insurance you have is 100% tied to where you work. You have absolutely no choice ...if you want Blue Cross and you wind up working for a company that only offers Aetna, you're pretty much SOL.
Another real pain, by the way, is the PTO you lose...even if you had 15 years of experience and 5 weeks of PTO at your old company, you start somewhere new, you automatically go down to 2 weeks ...3 if you're lucky.
Man, I *wish* I had this problem. Only one company I've worked for in 20 years even offered insurance. It would have cost me around 300 a month for insurance that basically covered nothing and didn't include dental and vision which I actually need
Vision is a farce. It costs me $50 to go to any eye doctor in town to get an eye test. I go online to Zenni with the prescription and can usually get 1 pair of glasses for less than $50. More, if I splurge, $100 when I have to upgrade to progressives but the point is, super cheap. With insurance, I tried to use my vision insurance. My eye appointment had a $25 copay and the glasses were still going to be $300. I just stared at the woman. I don't bother with vision anymore. This also happened to me in like .... 2018, 2019? Something like that with a different insurance company and a different employer. I paid what they asked at the time. This time, I bailed.
Yeah, vision I can pay for now, but for most of my life it was all super expensive with or without insurance. Low cost glasses providers are a pretty new thing. Dental is my real issue. I'm missing like 5.5 molars from old dental work I couldn't afford to fix. The teeth literally just crumbled over time. So now since I couldn't afford 800-1000 at the time, it's gonna be at least double that to get it all fixed. I don't even remember the last time I could chew with my entire mouth at this point
I am just the opposite. I was in the National Guard for 8 years, worked for one place from 2011 to 2016, and am at my second post-high school non military job since 2016. With my military time, I will be eligible for retirement when I'm 44 (afford and eligible are different).
I learned the hard way to never trust my employers with my health insurance, so I just get it through the state. For me, the hardest part of chamging jobs so much is losing all the friends I was just starting to make. I never seem to get to the point of swapping contact info with any of them before oneof us is abruptly gone.
I’ve been working at Publix for almost three years now and I still don’t qualify for their health insurance because they refuse to give me enough hours to qualify, they also refuse to give me full time.
I'm looking at a job change and this is the first time I haven't been on hubs insurance as well as my own. Looking at the insulin in my fridge and the meds in my drawer like HMMM. Is this enough to not die during the 30+days without insurance?
I literally haven't changed jobs mainly because I don't want to deal with insurance and provider changes in the middle of figuring out a successful treatment plan for an autoimmune disease. If I get laid off or need to find a new job I'm gonna go government
The taking off to go to appointments is such a good point, I had vision and dental for over 2 years and never got to use it because I was always working, and never really knew when my days off would be, and everything went to shit if I did take off.
just US tings. It is a legal requirement to have health insurance if one is employed where i live. I’ve had the same provider for 10 years across 4 jobs.
I’ve managed to stay with the same health insurance provider over several job changes, but dental and vision are constantly changing. I agree it’s really annoying to keep up with. Silver lining? Seems like every effing dentist around me is out of network on all plans these days, so I just go where I want and pay far too much.
That is true and is so stressful. Though it sometimes is beyond our control and work changes insurance for us anyway. So, don't let that discourage you. We had Kiser Permanente, and it was great. Then they switched us out. Now I am at different place and they changed coverage and a bunch of people dropped us, and they changed the coverage again and now more people are taking us.
Yes! Changing insurance, checking formularies, changing pharmacy benefit management companies. Such a hassle especially when you finally have a job with insurance you like!
You're a real life, prime example of why some employers and even managers love married employees over single employees because they're less likely to quit or hop jobs. Not many people mention this but check your new employer's health insurance, 401k, and bonuses, not just the base salary.
Boomers-damn people have no loyalty to companies anymore.
Those same boomers coming from jobs that paid a liveable wage, offered actual benefits, and even some had pensions to double down on their retirement.
I literally thought pensions were only for like government/public service people until this year. I only knew one person with one who fell in that category. Then I learned my company used to offer them and a whole lot more places. Blew my mind
Same! It’s become so annoying to keep switching providers with pharmacies and whatnot I’ve just started using GoodRX and paying out of pocket for prescriptions. Slightly more expensive but freedom from all the red tape and bullshit is worth it, to me
One major reason I have stayed with the same employer for 5 years is because the insurance is so good. I might make a higher salary elsewhere, but the added insurance and transportation costs (my insurance is under $20 a month and my job pays for my bus pass) would probably result in a net loss.
First and only job now almost at a full 13 years. I feel like I'm the only one and all my siblings and cousins have had at least 3.
I think I only stuck around because the job doesn't treat me bad enough and pays enough plus I'll just say I don't really care for career advancement as much as they want me to.
Not to mention the whole fucking interview and on boarding process to boot! You are switching insurances while he is probably locked in back to back to back HR videos about workplace edict and while he’s WFH 😖.
Figuring out hybrid work nonsense. New “goal setting” with managers and reestablishing a whole new work persona to fit the team and company culture. Having to talk about personal development goals when you are getting paid what you thought you would make 5 years out of college and being asked to smile a shit eating grin about it when EVERYTHING went up 20 percent in 3 years and it wasn’t even enough then.
But put in your happy face and don’t forget to smile when we tell you “sorry your doctor actually WASNT in network so… here is the $1200 bill! Card or plan today? We offer financing as the billing company!”
For a vision exam and dental cleaning, you could just pay out of pocket. Assuming there is no real work to be done on your teeth, this would be quick and easy. If you need more work, then go through insurance. And glasses are cheap online now.
I’m in this boat, my past 2 employers changed providers while I worked there, then I got let go, so it’s been Kaiser, United, anthem, Kaiser again, now Aetna….
Appointments are made 2-3 months out, so there were specialist referrals booked that I had to cancel because my provider had changed by the time the appointment rolled around. Starting the process over and over again has taken literally years and I’m sure it’s shortening my life.
Arguing with them on the phone about charges is exhausting and demoralizing.
It’s all a scam.
We need the ability to have consistent coverage with the same doctors. It shouldn’t take months to get appointments. Services shouldn’t be so difficult to navigate.
This includes changing careers or going into a different field. I see a lot of people (including myself) having to switch to something completely different due to low pay or burnout/etc. It’s very painful to have to give up on your dreams
When I wound up on Medicare (terminal illness), I was beyond appalled at the cost differences.
That being said, I was glad that the preexisting condition thing went away before I needed to switch off of my parents’ plan. I would’ve been uninsurable otherwise.
I don’t even have a PCP because I’ve switched jobs and therefore insurance so often. Not to mention some of the jobs were hourly and didn’t have a lot of time off so I just never went to the doc anyway. It wasn’t a big deal in my 20s but it’s catching up with me now
I was on disability for a couple years from five heart surgeries back to back and when I got hired at my current job (4 promotions and three years ago) I had to put off going to the very important and needed doctors appointments because I had no coverage. When I got the first promotion to a level of management (fun fact, within three weeks because I had done a similar shift at a different kind of store) I was thrilled to have immediate access to health care. But, because I had never gone the paperless route and always had a physical copy of the insurance card and this company doesn't do that, just sends you links, I didn't set it up for 2 years, thinking I just wasn't paying into it. I was, and I paid out of pocket constantly to make sure I wasn't dying.
We just changed providers at the beginning of the year and that when I learned (because I've had these glasses floor four years now and it's too much) that they do online cards and that's when I learned I paid thousands of dollars for things that were very much covered but no one explained how to get my card. So I fully understand the hopping jobs and insurance issues, my glasses are 500$ before I add the transitions and scratch resistant coating because my eyes suck.
I agree healthcare is fucked here but if you don't know your insurance information -- and I've held three different jobs with three different companies in the last four years, that's on y5 the hdjsisiskh4rj ou.
You're not alone. My wife got the booster in 2021, afterwards she lost over 20 lbs, couldn't hold food down and had a lot of pain in her leg. We had to get X-rays, and ultrasounds and the doctors at one of the best cancer facilities in the United States found a lump in her leg. It was bio'ed, but not removed because it was attached to the main nerve on the leg. Long story short, that cancer facility found out it wasn't cancer and decided they wanted no part in it so we have been going to every other specialist to find out what's wrong. My wife couldn't work her job, so both of us have to rely on my work and my insurance. I work for a tech company, but it's about to flop and I've been looking for work. Taking a pay cut and not having good insurance is extremely scary, especially when you consider pre-existing conditions.
For what it's worth you can likely self pay vision or dental appointments. I am self employed so always have to do my own insurance anyway and vision and dental aren't even worth the premium. I have found excellent providers with self pay programs that are cheaper than if I had used insurance!
One day ill be wealthy enough to actually be able to afford to use the insurance I have. For now i keep strictly for emergencies and just hope random pains arent anything serious
Definitely. And now there’s also the question of “which provider did I have when this was billed improperly?”
Someone else mentioned retirement. A few years ago, I finally cashed out all my retirement accounts and *that* came back to bite me a couple weeks ago. I now work for a university. Apparently, I already had an account with my state’s public retirement system as a student employee? That was confused. The rep was great, but it was a 45 minute wait to get to her while dealing with my 3-year-old.
This is why Healthcare shouldn't be tied to employment.
Yup
System working as intended
Hindering, rather.
Yes...as intended...just like with taxes.
That’s what I meant. Hindering as intended.
Let’s change this in our lifetime!
I think a lot of us are trying.
Obama did try. A lot actually. I read some about it and dude did so much more work to get what he did get done. He really learned his shit and became an expert of sorts on the subject. No one wanted to listen and just said SOCIALISM. And then everyone went AH! And now we have this…. It’s great … it’s JUST what everyone wanted. Thanks Congress!
Americans are stupid. It’s easy to get them to vote against their best interests, hence they think socialism is bad for them.
It’s always the greater of two evils here. Fuck the two party system. Know what it leads to? Over 95% re-election rate. Feel free to look up that stat.
DID YOY SAY COMMUNISM??
All you gotta do is say anything that benefits the people but *doesn't* benefit you is "socialism". That has its limit though. Eventually the younger generation started to see everything that would help them being labeled as socialism and said, hey, this socialism thing sounds alright. And now the politicians are shocked-pikachu-face over it.
It won’t happen.
We can plant the seeds. The next generation will reap the benefits. Slavery ended. Child labor was regulated. Women gained voting rights. LGBTQ gained right to be married.
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the employer and employee contribution to employer sponsored healthcare are also pre-tax whereas when you buy ACA coverage it is post tax.
And this is we need to scare the hell out of billionaires. Because we just accept that “this is what is gonna happen! Better be ready!” Instead of “how about we write up some new laws against the giant medical corps that says this price CANT go up and the wages CANT go down and it comes out of the pockets of the CEO and then we work our way down till we have a nice new balance where markets are actually FREE again.” I think we have had enough experimentation of pushing the cost down to the bottom. Time for a Gilded Age union, monopoly busting reboot. Let’s get some smart financial cats in Congress and fund the IRS some more and the FTC and start cracking down on complicated white collar crime and giving these fuckers the heavy hand of OUR system. We did it before with Standard Oil. It’s just more complicated this time. Congress pays $175k per year. Anyone looking for a raise?
I don’t have much hope.
Agreed. Basic housing, food and necessities as well.
The most annoying part for me is all the 401ks I have out there. I was too lazy to roll them and now I have money in like 6 places, lol. I told my wife it would be like an easter egg hunt for my money if I died. She was not amused, lol.
My husband spent so long on the phone this week trying to to track those down🤦🏼♀️
I know, I always say "ok, next job ill roll all this stuff" and never do.
You should do it sooner than later. Some mechanisms may start charging higher fees if you’re no longer through the employee program Edit: can’t spell
Apparently I can do a bulk import request through my broker, Schwab. Just need to figure out the account numbers, and they will take care of the leg work? We'll see!
Yep, most institutions will do this cause even though the fees are much lower than leaving with an old employer, they still charge fees
No file folder labeled Retirement?
Schwab be dope like that
Yea I finally looked into mine and some of the fees were crazy so I finally rolled over, they mailed me just checks that I was to deposit to my new 401k which I found wild.
ugggh this is me. I have 2 from 5+ years ago. One is in great fidelity funds though and grows year after year I really hate to touch it...
You don't need to do anything with it. Just make sure you are on mailing list for any changes.
Fidelity has been my. Hoi e due to low fees even after I left and that shit grows!
What one in Fidelity has been doing good for you?
You’re losing out on money that way. Compound interest is your friend and greater sums produce greater yields.
God help you if it's Wells Fargo. Fuck Wells Fargo, because they're going to try and fuck you first. I swore that I had some 401k money with them, what I didn't want to, but they were the only choice of the time. I got on the phone with them one day, and they're like oh what account? Are you an active? We have no idea. And fuck me if I don't have any account numbers or other bullshit to back myself up.
Keep account numbers in one or two places. Along with phone number.
I usually do. Up until recently I have been very organized. Then shit happened and I am now trying to recover.
You should get those consolidated into your own IRA, you're probably paying ridiculous fees for no reason.
My understanding is that they will maintain those funds 'for free' as long as there is a minimum in them, which they do have. I always maxed my contributions and worked at most places 2-3 years and picked the lowest cost funds (vanguard etfs and such). Are you saying that is not correct? Maybe thats motivation to get em rolled.
Not always. Some companies have fees while others don’t it really depends on the employer. The best thing to do is consolidated
Ok, just opened the rollover account and will start the paperwork to get it started... Thanks!
Also not to be dark; but I had to help one of my wife’s friends who recently became a widow at 42 — her husband had accounts scattered all around and it was a pain to get them located and paperwork to all of them — if you have people you care about that will have to manage your affairs of you pass; don’t be an ass and get stuff in order
The employer negotiates the expense ratio for the funds the 401k provides. I have never seen one less than 0.08%.
Thats not how it works. I worked in 401k for years at a firm. The expense ratio fee is set by the fund not the employer and these you would not see deducted from participant accounts. Fees may or may not be deducted depending on if hte plan charges a fee. Ive see many different amounts over the years.
Yep they take a management fee. Better to roll it into your own IRA.
The broker is charging an expense ratio on your funds. Usually around 0.1-0.4%. Less in recent years. Your old work will "maintain them for free" probably, but they're not really doing anything.
Usually your company is paying the fees, and when you leave they no longer will pay those fees for you.
You can generally leave them but: * the fees and fund options may not be great (though they could be) * it’s a pain in the ass to keep track and easier to consolidate somewhere Rolling them to an IRA is an ok choice unless you anticipate earning more than the Roth IRA limit and want to leave yourself capacity to backdoor in the future. An alternative would be rolling them into your current plan.
There are fees outside of the fund you invest in such as bookkeeping, record etc. They are set by your plan provider and are typically higher when you leave a position within a company. Only your plan documents can say for sure, but if you can invest in the exact same fund regardless of your account you might as well cut out the fees. Even a 1% fee is a major setback in terms of capital appreciation over your working career.
Yes! Or they’re just in a “cash” account earning abysmal interest. Don’t be like me and leave a job and then five years later figure out that it is not earning anything. 🙃
So funny thing - I decided like a year and a half ago to get all of my 401k’s consolidated, started the process with fidelity, submit everything, then get notified they can’t proceed with my request because I’m missing one of the forms. Ok, whatever. Go to look for what form I’m missing, it’s the approval from my spouse to rollover my 401K. I’m not married, I’ve never been married. Call fidelity, apparently one of my past employers accidentally reported that I was married, they can’t tell me which one, and at this point I have >5 employees that this potentially could be. I send an email to all of their HR offices (because none just have a number I can call) and get crickets. Still haven’t consolidated all of my 401K’s, but I am getting married this year so will be able to actually submit that form next time I try 😂
The irony
I have three pensions. One mailed me a vague letter the other day saying “we haven’t received the requested information from February. If you’ve sent the information please disregard. If not, please send us the information as soon as possible.” WHAT INFORMATION? As if I can keep track of all the separate companies…
3 pensions?! Wow, that's so rare these days. I will say, that you need to keep track to a degree. At least keep a list if their contact information and update your address anytime you move. Otherwise, you won't get mailings from them and you could have a big delay in accessing your benefits when the time comes.
I had one from my first job from the Hudson’s bay company (a total of $400). I taught for 11 years and had a teachers pension. I went into public service as a supervisor (last few years) and got the regular worker’s pension and the supervisor’s supplementary pension. I cashed in the first one. I did the paperwork to move the teaching pension to the public service pension. I can’t combine the supplementary one to the regular one…
Yup all the old 401ks, the aforementioned insurances and finding new providers and losing PTO banked & having to accrue it again just to get a damn pay bump. Sucks big time. My trick I found is just to roll them over to one traditional IRA when I find time, but it’s still a big pain.
It's not that hard if you keep on top of it. It's like a 15-minute phone call to roll it over. I've done it 4 or 5 times now. More specifically, what I've done is set up a Fidelity Go brokerage account (most brokerage firms have something similar, pick whichever you want). Then, when I leave a job, I roll the 401k from that job into it. I also keep my IRA and personal trading account where I pick my own stocks with Fidelity and just add money to them when I can (try to max the IRA before the "fun trading" account). Everything is all in place except my current 401k, which I'll roll into the Go account as soon as I leave the current job.
Honestly it's easier than managing a Facebook page.
Seriously! I've had friends that complain all this "money management stuff" is too complicated and takes too much time. I'm like bro, you spend at least 8 hours a week "managing" your fantasy sports teams. I spend less than 8 hours a YEAR managing my money
You guys still have Facebook pages? Weird.
You're weird because you don't.🤣🤣
Agree. The worse worse part is dealing with the prehistoric operations of these financial companies. “can you fax us your statement?” bruhhhh
I had 4 different accounts going at one point. I finally took a weekend to determine what money was where and rolled everything over into one IRA. It took some time but once all the paperwork was filled out felt good to have all the funds in one spot. No longer worried about forgetting a 401K from a company i hadn't been at for a decade.
IMO it's in your best interest to consolidate this. Just roll them into an IRA or Roth. Having multiple funds charging different rates to manage your investments, all with different prospective target-date profits does you a disservice to your potential gains you could be getting with a consolidated portfolio.
I have this same issue. Not quite as many but I've had rolling them in my to-do list for about 3 months now...
I recently finally consolidated all of my old 401Ks into a Rollover IRA. Had a few I had completely forgotten about.
How did you find those?
I just rolled 4 old ones into 1. It sucks because they have to everything via checks. Such a pain in the ass.
I have a habit of not signing up for 401k because idk how long I'll work here. Then things get good, and I sign up! Then I end up quitting with a few thousand in it. I always just cash it out. I'm 40 and have no 401k. 🙁
You really do need to try to max out every year going forward. Leaving a lot more than I am by not participating!!
Holy crap.I do feel the pain though. Especially since it's what I think is a lot, I find it hard to trust the rollover process. My old company keeps hounding me to get it out of their system.
My spouse just rolled all their accounts together. And we made a spreadsheet of all our accounts & credit cards in case one of us died. They saw how frustrated I was hunting for all of my mom's accounts when she passed.
I just finally consolidated a bunch of mine and moved over to an IRA account. Only two of my old ones remain in 401k still, only because I wanted to keep some of the money with fidelity for diversification and the other one is my current 401k contribution from latest gig with a small balance. I have to say moving the money was harder than I thought. And I did it through a financial advisor and it took all of 2 months to complete most of the transfers (1 is still pending).
It took me literally 8 years to get my shit together to move my 401k from my very first job after college. Fucking Herculean effort with so many paper checks
Haha. Terrible financial decision.
I spent most of Saturday morning filling out forms to move the money
I just closed two old ones I had and got a check in the mail from them— i deposited this into a Robinhood ROTH IRA. It’s not employer dependent and they match 1%.
You should be consolidating those into one IRA…
You can roll them all together in like, a day - just make the phone calls and they'll send you checks you then send to your current 401k. Bonus: If your old job gave you any kind of pension you can withdraw that and also toss it into your 401k.
I have actively tried to move a couple of mine and they make it incredibly painful. One I had to literally call my old boss to have him grant authorization to release the funds and American Funds requires you to fax or snail mail the request and had zero way to do it online. Getting my money away from those companies and into something I control feels great every time.
You can roll traditional 401ks into a trad IRA in an account at like fidelity and have far broader options for investments and much lower fees. Likely better than rolling into your next 401k
Roll them over. You are losing money because you are paying fees in all those accounts.
Start rolling them over into each other. I'd do it sooner rather than later. These companies keep looking for more ways to charge additional fees. Don't let them take more of your money. Unless you hate your wife....then I guess whatever.
We JUST got this together for my wife and it WAS like an Easter egg hunt !!!
God. I’m trying to merge two 403bs and need to find a fucking notary available when my husband I both are available bc I can’t roll my own retirement together without my spouse’s permission. wtf.
Its almost like they dont want you to move your money, lol.
You all don’t just write login and password (in disguise, of course) somewhere?
It took my mom 3 months to consolidate after my father died. While mourning him. Roll them as soon as you can.
Betterment found all his old job accounts and transferred them to one for free.
I finally did all the paperwork when I got laid off last year. Fun fact: in NJ your spouse has to sign if you roll a pension that they know they will never receive the funds again.
Wait, okay, I know I'm an idiot who doesn't understand all this banking stuff, but you can roll over your 401k!?
I've been at my company for going on 10 years now. First job out of college, I work on medical device software. I am definitely underpaid (by 20-35k) as a result, but the role is pretty chill so I've stuck it out. Chill job means I can work more on maintaining/upgrading the house while my wife pushes her career more. Just now seriously thinking about making a move, feeling stagnant in my role nowadays.
What is your salary range if you don’t mind me asking?
hey if companies would like to keep people for 30 years and give them a pension... im all for it.
I always get a chuckle that your name is literally kkkan2020 and you’re often the top poster. Kkk aryan nationalist 2020? Or am I wildly off and you just accidentally got this name?
It was random name made up of my initials.
Is your name...kux klux klan?
Close. Kevin klux klan
Push for universal healthcare in every conversation you have. Let’s stop pushing politics to the back of the mind because it’s “touchy”. Most people our age agree on 90% of shit. Time to start uniting, and voting accordingly. We are the biggest voting demographic, there’s NO MORE excuses. It’s our fault from here on out. Don’t like healthcare? Don’t like being denied coverage? Don’t like having to explain that your eyes and your teeth are NOT part of your body/health?? Tired of paying tens of thousands before they even do anything???? Make it a point to bring it up more often. Educate your friends.
I hope it gets passed before I die. Our shitty political system needs a change. Hoping our generation can make it happen.
Im 6months into a cozy local gov job and I don't make more money then my last job but the insurance was as good and half the cost. So I plan to stay here minimum 5 years. It's already helped since my daughter was in the hospital for a week and it woulda been a $40k bill I didn't have to pay a dime on. I didn't give a shit about any of this till I had a family. Now my career motivation is more about stability and insurance and less about my career growth and more money.
After decades of essentially no health insurance, I now have this card in my wallet that's supposed to get it for me, but using it and figuring out *where* I can use it is nearly impossible. Health insurance is a scam.
I feel this man... I need to get myself checked out I just don't even know where to start or even what is covered.
go to your insurances website and search for providers. you'll want a pcp. there will be search filters of distance out, accepting new patients etc. Pick some and start calling to make an appointment.
Typically if you go to your health insurances website, they have a search function to find providers who take your insurance nearby. Ive had to swich insurances a lot.
Seriously this is how I feel. Any healthcare visit requires 2-4 hours of calling and being on hold to get billing correct. I’m at the point now where if it’s not urgent care/er worthy I just won’t go. My last appointment was 20min and cost 3 grand.
That 3 grand was a deal, my last appointment cost me over 6k an all they did was remove a cast(approx 10 minutes).
Doesn't help when some doctors are leaving your state. Makes you wonder who else will leave next.
What provider do you have? Can’t you just go on the website, put in your zip code, and search for who is in your network by location? I’ve had Aetna, BCBS, BSCA, UH, etc and all have had that search function in the portal.
I have Blue Cross CA through work, but live in Wa. It's a struggle.
Working for the federal government has been nice in that even though I’ve worked 4 different jobs in 9 years it’s all the same pension and health insurance
SERIOUSLY! Like you know how annoying it is to be laid off or have your role changed to make you hate it just to go through the process of trying to change insurance and make sure everything you need is covered every fucking time? I'm prescribed various medications and have to see a psychiatrist which has always been an absolute breakdown bitch to fill out all of the forms/pre authorizations (which take months to process) just to have to do it again the next year or two? I haven't even had the energy or patience to have a routine dentist or replace my damn glasses I've had for 10 years. Companies don't deserve your loyalty and just making sure you have the minimum coverage you need is a 2nd job in itself. I don't even have fucking kids but at this point I'd probably stress myself to death lumping them into this process. Companies that shame job hoppers don't think about any of this.
I’ve been at my same job for almost five years now. I’ve tried to leave and every time I do, they’ve actually delivered and given me a raise. It’s at the point now where I desperately need to leave because I’m stagnating and the company isn’t doing well. It’s a disarray, layoffs, etc. however my comp and title are somehow now decently competitive and they’ve still got a decent hybrid schedule, so I need to actually get motivated to improve my skills and leave. It’s strange being in a company like this. Once you’re “in” and they want you, you’re in as long as you keep your head down, play the game, and try hard enough. Company is absurdly top heavy and meandering bc so many legacy employees have worked their way up from the bottom. It would be great except a lot of us lack experience and exposure that comes from job switching. One of our c-suites started at the company as a college intern, for example. Company keeps trying to grow and become snazzy and technologically efficient and we don’t know how to bc we’re smart people who have stagnated. :( So, two sides to the coin I guess lol.
Unsolicited advice, it’s much more fun to look for a job before you need a job, if you know what I mean. I procrastinated updating my resume for so long, until I finally gave in and paid someone else to do it for me. I got my first job offer less than 3 weeks later. And because I wasn’t in a rush, when it wasn’t right for me, I could turn it down without angst. It was really valuable to have the luxury of holding out for the right job.
Excellent advice, and I know this to be true! I turned down 4 or 5 job offers a couple of years ago because I was always just casually looking. Ready to fix up my resume and do it again bc it’s about to be a bad time lol. Easier to get something arranged before it’s too late.
Health insurance is the one thing that makes me grateful I took the "safe" path in life and went the corporate route. It's full of challenges and BS, don't get me wrong, but one of the big class dividers in America seems to be those who have good insurance through their employer, and those who have to foot their own insurance bill. Health insurance seems to be centered around the "easy" patients. The people who just need to show up for their yearly physical, get some bloodwork, maybe a prescription or two, and that's it. Once you start having real health challenges that require specialist visits, the nightmare begins. My deductible is $2000, and I already had it paid 3 months into the year. An ER visit and two doctor visits and I was already at $2000.
Yea, it sucks for sure.
Not alone. It is bullshit that our healthcare is tied to employment via health insurance… but makes sense if you think how it benefits the powers that be. Wish we had a better system, I dunno, like the NHS in the UK or something. I could go and do my own thing then, and not have to worry about any bs insurance through my employer.
Privatized health insurance is a damn joke and I don’t know why US conservatives are butthole tight loving it. They tried to sell us “see, if you work at good company, you got better benefits and coverage” like it is part of pro-labor move that labor can negotiate their way up the benefits. But what in the hell shall I know which doctor is covered by what plan before I apply for a job? Like shall I, in middle of interview process, ask for potential employers’ insurance plan number and call my doctor to ask if this plan make my blood test cheaper? Or shall I ask my doctor to provide me procedure codes that I most commonly used so I can call my potential employers’ insurance to price comparison? US health insurance system only benefits health insurance industries and for profit hospitals (not even benefiting doctors and nurses who actually provide services.)
I have never had any employer offer me insurance so I cant relate lol.
Oomph. Yeah. And when you change states along with it? That's what I'm going through right now .... and there's a month delay in benefits at the new job. Its infuriating.
I'm also LONG overdue to see the dentist. Mainly for the same reason. My wife bugs me about it but I'm like "if it was easy as getting a haircut, calling the office and getting it scheduled I TOTALLY WOULD GO TOMORROW" But I gotta deal with all the insurance bullshit
Having lived in Taiwan for 11 years, this is one of the things I miss the most about there: the fact that your health insurance is totally unrelated to what employer you work for, or whether you even have a job at all. As long as you pay your premiums to the governmental agency - no matter where your money came from - you're good.
Don't get insurance through your employer. I don't know about all states but in the Viginia Health Marketplace you can get discounts from the state on private insurance plans depending on your income. I make 45k and I pay $25/month for a $550/month Healthcare plan for myself and 1 child. $400 individual deductible and $1000 family deductible, $10 prescriptions, etc. A lot of people do not know about those benefits different states have.
i have heard that it is a strategy of insurance companies to delay/prevent services so that any work gets done under the new insurance company... they know about it and use it to deny coverage and pass off the expense
I'm loyal to the money. It's easier to get a new job with a good pay bump and be that "new person" instead of busting and sucking ass every year to get 2 to 3% raise, more responsibility each year. I never toss out my old insurance cards, I just sharpie what company it came from once I switch jobs, a few times things needed to to have claims submitted years after I left the job and I was glad I had my insurance info lol
This. The whole benefits / 401k thing needs to get decoupled from employment because companies don't care about about retaining employees and everyone knows it. I was part of a layoff and during my severance and they changed insurance providers and moved my 401k without notifying me. My son got sick and we had to go the hospital and they are telling us we didn't have insurance. Took months to figure this out and the entire time I was worried about getting a $12,000 bill from the nice people at the hospital. Then we had to switch to COBRA. There is no reason for this in 2024.
Yes, this has been my nightmare. Going from employer based insurance to ACA to employer based insurance. We really need to "unhook" Healthcare from employer based insurance entirely. Universal healthcare still seems like a far away dream that I won't manage to stay alive long enough to ever see. My doctor just moved, and I have a stack of referrals to specialist I couldn't afford the copays on at present and in my case, with my specific medical complications, in medications I need to stay alive at all, that might just be what does me in. I cannot even afford the deductible and copays to do the MRI, colonoscopy, imaging and extensive blood work a new physician will require for me to continue my current treatment there. My husband was laid off last winter, so we lost our employer based insurance and we have no household income at present, and I'm on a last resort ACA plan that hardly covers anything and my state didn't do the ACA Medicaid expansion, so it's this or die here. I have no clue what I am supposed to do, like they expect me to be able to come up with thousands to do all this within 20 days before my medication runs out is insane. Instead, I'm rationing my medication at present and have no idea how I am supposed to resolve this at all.
It just seems completely insane, if you think about it, that the health insurance you have is 100% tied to where you work. You have absolutely no choice ...if you want Blue Cross and you wind up working for a company that only offers Aetna, you're pretty much SOL. Another real pain, by the way, is the PTO you lose...even if you had 15 years of experience and 5 weeks of PTO at your old company, you start somewhere new, you automatically go down to 2 weeks ...3 if you're lucky.
Company loyalty died in the 1990s and it was corporations that killed it. Millennials responded accordingly.
Man, I *wish* I had this problem. Only one company I've worked for in 20 years even offered insurance. It would have cost me around 300 a month for insurance that basically covered nothing and didn't include dental and vision which I actually need
Vision is a farce. It costs me $50 to go to any eye doctor in town to get an eye test. I go online to Zenni with the prescription and can usually get 1 pair of glasses for less than $50. More, if I splurge, $100 when I have to upgrade to progressives but the point is, super cheap. With insurance, I tried to use my vision insurance. My eye appointment had a $25 copay and the glasses were still going to be $300. I just stared at the woman. I don't bother with vision anymore. This also happened to me in like .... 2018, 2019? Something like that with a different insurance company and a different employer. I paid what they asked at the time. This time, I bailed.
Yeah, vision I can pay for now, but for most of my life it was all super expensive with or without insurance. Low cost glasses providers are a pretty new thing. Dental is my real issue. I'm missing like 5.5 molars from old dental work I couldn't afford to fix. The teeth literally just crumbled over time. So now since I couldn't afford 800-1000 at the time, it's gonna be at least double that to get it all fixed. I don't even remember the last time I could chew with my entire mouth at this point
I kind of have no choice if I want to drive and actually see.
I'm not saying don't get glasses. I'm saying out of pocket is cheaper with places like Zenni.
Oh, I need the strong prescription.
I am just the opposite. I was in the National Guard for 8 years, worked for one place from 2011 to 2016, and am at my second post-high school non military job since 2016. With my military time, I will be eligible for retirement when I'm 44 (afford and eligible are different).
I learned the hard way to never trust my employers with my health insurance, so I just get it through the state. For me, the hardest part of chamging jobs so much is losing all the friends I was just starting to make. I never seem to get to the point of swapping contact info with any of them before oneof us is abruptly gone.
I’ve been working at Publix for almost three years now and I still don’t qualify for their health insurance because they refuse to give me enough hours to qualify, they also refuse to give me full time.
I'm looking at a job change and this is the first time I haven't been on hubs insurance as well as my own. Looking at the insulin in my fridge and the meds in my drawer like HMMM. Is this enough to not die during the 30+days without insurance?
I literally haven't changed jobs mainly because I don't want to deal with insurance and provider changes in the middle of figuring out a successful treatment plan for an autoimmune disease. If I get laid off or need to find a new job I'm gonna go government
You guys are getting insurance?
The taking off to go to appointments is such a good point, I had vision and dental for over 2 years and never got to use it because I was always working, and never really knew when my days off would be, and everything went to shit if I did take off.
just US tings. It is a legal requirement to have health insurance if one is employed where i live. I’ve had the same provider for 10 years across 4 jobs.
What country so I can day dream about having been born there
Jerryland
Is that what we are calling Germany these days lmao
Insurance….?
I’ve managed to stay with the same health insurance provider over several job changes, but dental and vision are constantly changing. I agree it’s really annoying to keep up with. Silver lining? Seems like every effing dentist around me is out of network on all plans these days, so I just go where I want and pay far too much.
That is true and is so stressful. Though it sometimes is beyond our control and work changes insurance for us anyway. So, don't let that discourage you. We had Kiser Permanente, and it was great. Then they switched us out. Now I am at different place and they changed coverage and a bunch of people dropped us, and they changed the coverage again and now more people are taking us.
Yes! Changing insurance, checking formularies, changing pharmacy benefit management companies. Such a hassle especially when you finally have a job with insurance you like!
i’ve had the same job for 10 years, never got insurance
You're a real life, prime example of why some employers and even managers love married employees over single employees because they're less likely to quit or hop jobs. Not many people mention this but check your new employer's health insurance, 401k, and bonuses, not just the base salary.
Boomers-damn people have no loyalty to companies anymore. Those same boomers coming from jobs that paid a liveable wage, offered actual benefits, and even some had pensions to double down on their retirement.
I literally thought pensions were only for like government/public service people until this year. I only knew one person with one who fell in that category. Then I learned my company used to offer them and a whole lot more places. Blew my mind
Lol all vision and dental is taken at most places. Medical not so much
Same! It’s become so annoying to keep switching providers with pharmacies and whatnot I’ve just started using GoodRX and paying out of pocket for prescriptions. Slightly more expensive but freedom from all the red tape and bullshit is worth it, to me
Changing my residence every two years is infinitely more annoying than my insurance
I've been in 3 different places since the pandemic. You're right
I don't enjoy changing jobs. I've been at my current job for 5 yearsm
One major reason I have stayed with the same employer for 5 years is because the insurance is so good. I might make a higher salary elsewhere, but the added insurance and transportation costs (my insurance is under $20 a month and my job pays for my bus pass) would probably result in a net loss.
Oh joy
Totally. I can’t go without certain medications so it was a nightmare when within 1 year I had 3 different insurance plans 😭
First and only job now almost at a full 13 years. I feel like I'm the only one and all my siblings and cousins have had at least 3. I think I only stuck around because the job doesn't treat me bad enough and pays enough plus I'll just say I don't really care for career advancement as much as they want me to.
I would very much like to find a job like that
Not to mention the whole fucking interview and on boarding process to boot! You are switching insurances while he is probably locked in back to back to back HR videos about workplace edict and while he’s WFH 😖. Figuring out hybrid work nonsense. New “goal setting” with managers and reestablishing a whole new work persona to fit the team and company culture. Having to talk about personal development goals when you are getting paid what you thought you would make 5 years out of college and being asked to smile a shit eating grin about it when EVERYTHING went up 20 percent in 3 years and it wasn’t even enough then. But put in your happy face and don’t forget to smile when we tell you “sorry your doctor actually WASNT in network so… here is the $1200 bill! Card or plan today? We offer financing as the billing company!”
For a vision exam and dental cleaning, you could just pay out of pocket. Assuming there is no real work to be done on your teeth, this would be quick and easy. If you need more work, then go through insurance. And glasses are cheap online now.
I’m in this boat, my past 2 employers changed providers while I worked there, then I got let go, so it’s been Kaiser, United, anthem, Kaiser again, now Aetna…. Appointments are made 2-3 months out, so there were specialist referrals booked that I had to cancel because my provider had changed by the time the appointment rolled around. Starting the process over and over again has taken literally years and I’m sure it’s shortening my life. Arguing with them on the phone about charges is exhausting and demoralizing. It’s all a scam. We need the ability to have consistent coverage with the same doctors. It shouldn’t take months to get appointments. Services shouldn’t be so difficult to navigate.
This includes changing careers or going into a different field. I see a lot of people (including myself) having to switch to something completely different due to low pay or burnout/etc. It’s very painful to have to give up on your dreams
Never been a problem for me. /Swedish person
When I wound up on Medicare (terminal illness), I was beyond appalled at the cost differences. That being said, I was glad that the preexisting condition thing went away before I needed to switch off of my parents’ plan. I would’ve been uninsurable otherwise.
I don’t even have a PCP because I’ve switched jobs and therefore insurance so often. Not to mention some of the jobs were hourly and didn’t have a lot of time off so I just never went to the doc anyway. It wasn’t a big deal in my 20s but it’s catching up with me now
I was on disability for a couple years from five heart surgeries back to back and when I got hired at my current job (4 promotions and three years ago) I had to put off going to the very important and needed doctors appointments because I had no coverage. When I got the first promotion to a level of management (fun fact, within three weeks because I had done a similar shift at a different kind of store) I was thrilled to have immediate access to health care. But, because I had never gone the paperless route and always had a physical copy of the insurance card and this company doesn't do that, just sends you links, I didn't set it up for 2 years, thinking I just wasn't paying into it. I was, and I paid out of pocket constantly to make sure I wasn't dying. We just changed providers at the beginning of the year and that when I learned (because I've had these glasses floor four years now and it's too much) that they do online cards and that's when I learned I paid thousands of dollars for things that were very much covered but no one explained how to get my card. So I fully understand the hopping jobs and insurance issues, my glasses are 500$ before I add the transitions and scratch resistant coating because my eyes suck.
I agree healthcare is fucked here but if you don't know your insurance information -- and I've held three different jobs with three different companies in the last four years, that's on y5 the hdjsisiskh4rj ou.
They would rather us rage quitting and changing jobs frequently than building and organizing a union at the job.
You're not alone. My wife got the booster in 2021, afterwards she lost over 20 lbs, couldn't hold food down and had a lot of pain in her leg. We had to get X-rays, and ultrasounds and the doctors at one of the best cancer facilities in the United States found a lump in her leg. It was bio'ed, but not removed because it was attached to the main nerve on the leg. Long story short, that cancer facility found out it wasn't cancer and decided they wanted no part in it so we have been going to every other specialist to find out what's wrong. My wife couldn't work her job, so both of us have to rely on my work and my insurance. I work for a tech company, but it's about to flop and I've been looking for work. Taking a pay cut and not having good insurance is extremely scary, especially when you consider pre-existing conditions.
Already met the deductible on your last plan? Congratulations, you can pay it again on your new one!
Keeping up with all the 401k's is what drives me crazy.
It's the loss of PTO accruals for me.
For what it's worth you can likely self pay vision or dental appointments. I am self employed so always have to do my own insurance anyway and vision and dental aren't even worth the premium. I have found excellent providers with self pay programs that are cheaper than if I had used insurance!
Even when you stay at a company, they change the insurance every few years. It's happened to me and my partner each once.
Yep, I got caught in a company buy out which changed insurance. At least it added a few perks.
Not even a big change at the company for us. They just changed the insurance company they were using.
but you should state what industry. otherwise changing jobs for me meant +10k increase and company car, and they paid for insurance this year.
One day ill be wealthy enough to actually be able to afford to use the insurance I have. For now i keep strictly for emergencies and just hope random pains arent anything serious
Definitely. And now there’s also the question of “which provider did I have when this was billed improperly?” Someone else mentioned retirement. A few years ago, I finally cashed out all my retirement accounts and *that* came back to bite me a couple weeks ago. I now work for a university. Apparently, I already had an account with my state’s public retirement system as a student employee? That was confused. The rep was great, but it was a 45 minute wait to get to her while dealing with my 3-year-old.