I Want Decent Health Benefits! Is That Too Much to Ask?

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Specializes in Home Health,Peds.

My Health Insurance Deductible Is $9,000!!!

It seems to be a great time to be a nurse right now. All of the opportunities presented seem endless!

But why does it seem like employers do not want to offer decent health insurance AND decent pay?

I just left a job that basically had no insurance. There was a $9,000 annual deductible that had to be paid before insurance even kicked in. The monthly premium for a single mom with kids was $200.  I stayed at the job for 7 months. Now, I  started a new job. I was on orientation yesterday and the monthly premium for a mom with children for Aetna HMO 40 Choice plan is $975 and $105 for dental.  Since I will get paid every two weeks, that is $500 every paycheck. 

Meanwhile, my sister in IT pays $200 a month for PPO, and that is as a single parent with children.

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

That is out of control! Wish I could say something helpful or constructive, but I got nothin. Definitely furious for you, though. ?

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Specializes in school nurse.

There's a lot of irony when health organizations provide some of the worst health coverage. Sort of in keeping with the fact that they pressure their employees to come in while sick to take care of sick people...

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2 hours ago, Googlenurse said:

It seems to be a great time to be a nurse right now. All of the opportunities presented seem endless!

But why does it seem to like employers do not want to offer decent health insurance AND decent pay?

I just left a job that basically had no insurance. There was a $9,000 annual deductible that had to be paid before insurance even kicked in. The monthly premium for a single mom with kids was $200.  I stayed at the job for 7 months. Now,I  started a new job. I was on orientation yesterday and the monthly premium for a mom with children for Aetna HMO 40 Choice plan is $975 and $105 for dental.  Since I will get paid every two weeks, that is $500 every paycheck. 

Meanwhile,my sister in IT pays $200 a month for PPO,and that is as a single parent with children.

This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time.  While pay for nurses has gradually increased over the years, the medical/dental plans that many healthcare employers offer to employees, have been gutted to the point that they are almost of no value.  We've all had our eye on the money (nurse salaries) while this bait and switch was quietly taking place.  Why did this change occur you ask?  Corporate healthcare has to funnel more money to the top to pay their executive managers' obscene and decadent salaries.  Also, you can bet that the stuffed shirts in their plush offices don't have the same crap PPO plans that you and I have.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Children are more liabilities than assets and it is the price one pays for procreating. The more variables one adds to their life, the more those in control can fill in those variables with constants.

Not complicating my life with excessive variables is one of the many reasons I had a vasectomy before I got married the first time.

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Specializes in school nurse.
21 minutes ago, morelostthanfound said:

 Also, you can bet that the stuffed shirts in their plush offices don't have the same crap PPO plans that you and I have.

Yes! It sure adds insult to injury when the people making much more money end up having to pay less in co-pays, deductibles, caps, etc...

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Daniel Gilbert said in his great book "Stumbling on Happiness" that we feel better about a situation when we have someone else to blame for our woes and pain.

Blaming is a short-term fix end road. It's as if we say, "They are responsible for my lot in life. I am good and they are bad. I am right and they are wrong".

 And conjectured blaming is stagnation which does nothing to enhance or aid to our growth and development.

 

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Specializes in Home Health,Peds.

Are you saying my problem is having children and not the cost of health insurance?

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Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.
5 hours ago, Googlenurse said:

It seems to be a great time to be a nurse right now. All of the opportunities presented seem endless!

But why does it seem to like employers do not want to offer decent health insurance AND decent pay?

I just left a job that basically had no insurance. There was a $9,000 annual deductible that had to be paid before insurance even kicked in. The monthly premium for a single mom with kids was $200.  I stayed at the job for 7 months. Now,I  started a new job. I was on orientation yesterday and the monthly premium for a mom with children for Aetna HMO 40 Choice plan is $975 and $105 for dental.  Since I will get paid every two weeks, that is $500 every paycheck. 

Meanwhile,my sister in IT pays $200 a month for PPO,and that is as a single parent with children.

I hear and agree with you. A few years ago, I was offered a new job and I asked about the insurance plans offered. This was after I had been working at another employer with crap insurance, so it was very important to me. The HR department couldn't (or wouldn't) give me the specifics. They just kept saying "we'll go over it in orientation." Uh no we won't...offer declined.

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Specializes in Occupational Health Nursing.

Asking for health benefits is not too much, it's well deserved! , it's just a difficult decision for them (hospitals,medical centers.)

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I had a friend / co- worker when I worked at St Heartless who found out the hard way how poor our facility health care was. RN left shift and went to ER with serve abdominal pain, after staggering through most of her shift of course, can't abandon her patients. She was diagnosed with appendicitis and operated on the same day. 

Despite being seen in the ER of our own hospital for emergency surgery the surgeon was not in network nor were the anesthesia providers. After discharge she received the staggering bill for "electing" to be treated outside of network. To add insult to injury the hospital refused to reduced the bill in any way or allow her to make a payment plan. They sent her bill to collections immediately when she couldn't afford to pay in full. 

......Payroll did work with the collections agency to allow them to garnish her wages to recover the debt so that was helpful of them. 

 

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Specializes in school nurse.
19 minutes ago, kp2016 said:

I had a friend / co- worker when I worked at St Heartless who found out the hard way how poor our facility health care was. RN left shift and went to ER with serve abdominal pain, after staggering through most of her shift of course, can't abandon her patients. She was diagnosed with appendicitis and operated on the same day. 

Despite being seen in the ER of our own hospital for emergency surgery the surgeon was not in network nor were the anesthesia providers. After discharge she received the staggering bill for "electing" to be treated outside of network. To add insult to injury the hospital refused to reduced the bill in any way or allow her to make a payment plan. They sent her bill to collections immediately when she couldn't afford to pay in full. 

......Payroll did work with the collections agency to allow them to garnish her wages to recover the debt so that was helpful of them. 

 

Did any of this story ever get leaked to the media?

There's a special place in hell for management like this...

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