We are in the open enrollment period for benefits at work. So we have a chance to decide what insurance plan is best for us. I'm trying to figure out what would be best for us.
I work for a very large company, and we are fortunate that we have 3 options. They have varying levels of premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance. If our medical expenses for next year are about the same as they were this year, then one option is much cheaper. The disadvantage of that plan, though, is that it has the highest out of pocket maximum, so in the worst case scenario, we would end up paying $2K more than the other plans. So we have to decide how we feel about that risk.
But here's where it gets even trickier. None of the plans pay for the treatment of IF, but they do pay for the diagnosis of it. Our expenses this year were exclusively for diagnosis (they all have the same prescription drug plan so I'm not including costs for cl.omid or fem.ara in figuring this out). But, assuming we are not successful this cycle, we are going to start getting more aggressive and will start IUI. So we will move from diagnosis to treatment as our major contributor to costs.
I can also get a health savings account where basically I can put some of my income in an account specifically for medical costs (and this is good for fertility treatments) without paying taxes on it. But this amount does not carry over at the end of the year, so if I don't use, I lose it. Since this account can be used for IUI and IVF, my first inclination is to put a lot of money in there and save on taxes. But assuming I'm not pregnant now, I hope to do one IUI cycle before the end of the year. And then of course we have no idea how many cycles we will need.
What would you guys do in this situation?
Dancing in the Rain…
5 years ago
That's tricky. Since none of the plans cover IF treatments and that wouldn't apply towards your out of pocket max (right?), I don't know what factors would go into choosing the plan.
ReplyDeleteAs for the HSA, I have the dame dilemma about ours! I might put some in next year....but a smaller amount that we can use (a couple treatments, buy some glasses, etc) even if we got pregnant right away.
Good luck with the decision!
makingmemom.blogspot.com
I don't have many suggestions as far as the insurance plans themselves, but as for the HSA, I also have to figure out how much to put in there. I definitely would want to stock it up if we'll have to pay for IF junk, but what I'm thinking if we do (please Lord) get pregnant soon is that I can also use the $ for baby appointments, etc. So I think unless you put like $20k in there, you probably won't have a problem using it...
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, that's a great point. I didn't put it together before that if we were successful early with our treatments then that means we would have prenatal visits and a labor and delivery in 2010.
ReplyDeleteJust curious if you work for a major university?
ReplyDeleteI just did my open enrollment too. We chose to go with the highest level of coverage. This is the second year we will do this, and it came in quite handy when I found myself in the ED twice this year due to complications fron infertility treatments.
Just food for thought.