Health Insurance

  I recently discovered that one of the perks that come with working longer hours at my school comes with me now being eligible for benefits, life insurance, health insurance, dental, and eye! With the exception of a few months when I was suffering at a bank teller's job I have been without any health insurance since my husband passed away almost 17 years ago. The children qualified through our state's healthy choice program until about two years ago when with no explanation at all they were no longer eligible. Several weeks of frustrating calls and emails yielded no reasonable reason why this was and I just gave up. I have paid out of pocket for all medical expenses since then. Fortunately we are a relatively healthy bunch and our family practitioner has reasonable rates. Free/reduced prescriptions at local pharmacies and  in the case of my accident last year a program for 'needy' patients at the Clinic has gotten us through.
The only drawback to this perk is the out of pocket premium cost for a family plan. order to afford it in our budget we'd have to do one of two things, stop eating or I could stop sleeping and get a fourth job to cover the cost. This is not practical. However I can easily afford the individual plan so I chose that option. As for the kids, college age daughter can get coverage through her college and we are looking into this. Youngest son will soon be 18 and able to get an individual policy through one of the 'exchanges' available under the Affordable Care Act until he too graduates and goes to college. In the meantime I will cover any expenses he may incur out of my pocket.
Of course my policy comes with co-pays and all kinds of policy rules about providers etc. but I expected this. I will continue to be frugal in my health expenses preferring to practice preventative measures. I will though be taking advantage of that eye coverage at my next annual eye exam. Whatever it costs will still be less than paying the full amount for the exam and new contact lenses out of my own pocket!