Melissa let me know that since I'm a blogger now, I need to actually start blogging. So here it goes...
The last 2 weeks have been pretty strange and exciting for me. I left a good paying job at a company I've been with for 10 years. There was a lot that went into that decision, and one of the first considerations that came to mind was insurance.
Could we afford it?
How do we sign up for it?
Could we afford it?
I knew we'd need health, dental, and life insurances. Once I made the plunge to leave the corporate world, getting them was a top priority.
Luckily, my job was in the healthcare industry, and I was aware of the Healthcare Marketplace AKA the Healthcare Exchange AKA Obamacare. This website helps individuals and small business owners like us purchase health insurance.
It was honestly pretty easy after going to www.healthcare.gov. All I had to do was answer a few questions to see if I qualified for health insurance (since there's only one time per year when people can sign up unless you meet an exception like losing a job or losing health insurance during the year). Then it shows the plans available for my family in my state, and what the options are along with the associated costs (premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket costs). It was really easy to narrow it down after that. I knew what would meet our needs and was able to make a decision on a plan pretty quickly.
Next was dental. I happen to know a dentist who goes to my gym, and she gave me the names of a few reputable dental insurance companies. One of them was MetLife, which was what we already had through my previous employer. I contacted them, explained my situation, and did a little research on their competitors to make sure I was getting a fair deal. Viola! I basically have the same dental insurance through the same provider...the only difference is that I'm paying for all of it this time!
Life insurance was a bit different. I work with a financial advisor, and he was able to make a recommendation about a policy that his firm could set up and point me in the right direction. Again, with a little help from my friend Google, I was able to double check to see how competitive the rates were.
All of this was pretty time consuming, but it's basically like shopping for anything else. There was a bit of a learning curve with some of the terminology, but whenever I wanted to learn more, I just picked up the phone and called the company.
Navigating this space and making a decision was definitely one of the more intimidating things about leaving my job, but it can definitely be done.
Now I've moved onto things like writing my first blog post...done!
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