I was reading September’s issue of Money magazine, and they had a tiny little blurb on how to “Be Ready For Anything”, and I thought I would take a moment to expand on their list and hopefully offer some of my own suggestions.
On their list there were three things; Protect Your Records, Have Ready Cash, and Get the Right Coverage. Let’s look at what they had to say for each.
Over at Money Central, they have a pretty good article up for those who are uninsured: A survival guide for the uninsured – MSN Money. Here are their tips for looking for alternative insurance:
Some of the options include:
COBRA: If you were covered by health insurance at work but are about to lose your job, you’re typically entitled to coverage for up to 18 months under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. Unfortunately, you have to pick up the whole tab for this coverage, which can be tough to afford. Coverage for a family of three can easily cost $500 to $1,000 a month.
If you haven’t gotten a USB flash drive to back up your important docs and take them with you, here is another chance. Once again, Buy.com has another 2GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $7.95…Normally they go for $52 bucks, but with the rebate and using Google checkout to pay, it’s only $7.95. Remember, if you use Google checkout, you dont need to log in to Buy.com…just add the item to your basket, and then when checking out, choose Google Checkout and log in with your Google info. Much easier that way, plus you get $20 off.
The last “real” job I had….you know, the one where I had to be there at 9 and had to stay till the end of the day, came with health insurance. Well, it didnt really come with it, but I had to pay for part of it. $100 per month, to be exact. Not bad, right? But the problem with their insurance choice was that the deductible was so high, I ended up paying for almost everything anyway, in addition to the $100 a month I was already spending. And don’t get me started on the dental plan…I don’t think I saw $1 in benefits. I know this was all because they had a very bad group plan through BlueCross, but for $100 per month, I thought it was the best scenario. Then, I got married.
