Travel Insurance - what can i get instead?

I personally would look into other agencies if you are only getting paid $25/hour. Do you have any idea how much they are paying for your rent? Decide for yourself what's important, make a list and start shopping around. Be assertive, your current agency my come around. You definetly should be getting no less than $150/month for the health insurance.

If it were me, I would call three other travel companies a month before my assignment is set to end. That way you have different offers and some negotiating leverage. Think of it like buying a car. You HAVE to negotiate. These companies have a huge amount of room to negotiate pay and benefits. Depending on your location, these companies are billing out at $60-$75 every hour you work! $25/hr in CA is a slap in the face for an RN. Just be honest with them that you are speaking with other companies. If they can't meet your requests simply say thank you for your time, but I believe I am going with company X. The first time we did this it wasn't even 30 min before the recruiter's boss called back and gave us everything we wanted. If you are an RN in CA you should be making a blended rate of $35-$40 per hour, a sign on bonus of $1000-2000, and free housing and utilities. Good luck!

You know, Medic15251, I am glad you posted this information. For a while there I thought it was just me imagining that these agency ads all seem to advertise a wonderful hourly rate---until you get down to talking to them about your ACTUAL hourly income. All of a sudden, the $40 per hour drops to $27, or something like that. Often, the free housing is not exactly what they say it is, and some will even offer you a tax-free housing allowance that is much less than what it actually costs to rent a short-stay apartment.

I would not have accepted that contract for $25/hour. There are better deals out there.