PPD Pressure

spockforprez

I didn't want to keep updating my unemployment thread but wanted to chat about how it relates to wedding stuff.

(Also, I have a phone interview today! Whoop whoop. It's for a part-time teller position as I was wanting. The hourly rate hurts my heart but it is what it is.)

So... working on the whole health insurance thing. (I'm pretty sure the bank I'm interviewing for offers health insurance for PT associates so that will hopefully make this concern moot, but not counting chickens yet.)

Purchasing a plan via the marketplace (healthcare.gov) is looking to be $165 to $350 per month with gigantic deductibles. Continuing my great and previously employer-sponsored coverage via COBRA is $558 a month. *sob* Part of me just wants to say fuck it and go without, but you never know what will happen and also not having coverage can create future issues with preexisting conditions and whatnot. It's 4.5 months until the wedding and that's just too big of a gap.

So, speaking of the wedding. FH has good insurance through his job and my mom is encouraging us to get legally married but still have our May wedding. Obviously, I am not on board. (I would be on board with getting married now and canceling the May wedding, but she refuses and said she would just convert it into a reception/party, which is fine, but if we're spending the same money anyway let's just make it the real wedding.) However, my bridesmaids agree with my mom and when I shared my concerns about having a pretend wedding, they just told me not to tell anyone. Gah! 

Beyond ethical concerns, it just seems silly and pointless. If we get legally married, I would consider that our real wedding. Not even out of a principled stance, but just because emotionally that would be the day we'd be husband and wife which is all I want out of this whole damn thing anyway. I would want it to be a nice, special day with our parents there, and wear my dress and take pictures and exchange (and then wear) our rings. So then to repeat the same "special" activities four months later is not just dishonest but freaking stupid. I wouldn't enjoy them. And my ring is engraved with our date. In hindsight, maybe not the best choice.

Plus, we'd have to rope our officiant into it somehow, which she may not agree to, or else cancel her (losing our deposit) and have a friend be a pretend officiant. And I guess take off our rings to exchange again... and then next year on the anniversary of the legal marriage I would want to celebrate it because it was so special, but that wouldn't be the "public" anniversary. So then there'd be two anniversaries... ugh! The whole thing is just ludicrous.

I'm not considering the PPD, at all, just FYI. It's off the table. It's just frustrating to actually be in this position and think about the logistics of everything and how much work would go into being dishonest and my mom and WP encouraging me to do so. I quit talking about it with my WP because I was annoyed, so that part is fine now, but every time I talk to my mom about my research into the healthcare stuff she brings it back up. 

thisismynickname2

Sending you a hug! "I've made my views on this known and it's not happening. Have you tried this bean dip?" Stand your ground!

I completely agree there is no re-creating the moment of becoming married. Having done that, doing it again would be laughable. 

ohmrs2014

I commend you for standing your ground.  It's not easy.  But I agree with PP, bean dip the hell out of them.

Just curious OP, why does your mom refuse to cancel the May wedding and let you get married now?  Is she footing the bill?  

nerdwife

spockforprez said:

I didn't want to keep updating my unemployment thread but wanted to chat about how it relates to wedding stuff.

(Also, I have a phone interview today! Whoop whoop. It's for a part-time teller position as I was wanting. The hourly rate hurts my heart but it is what it is.)

So... working on the whole health insurance thing. (I'm pretty sure the bank I'm interviewing for offers health insurance for PT associates so that will hopefully make this concern moot, but not counting chickens yet.)

Purchasing a plan via the marketplace (healthcare.gov) is looking to be $165 to $350 per month with gigantic deductibles. Continuing my great and previously employer-sponsored coverage via COBRA is $558 a month. *sob* Part of me just wants to say fuck it and go without, but you never know what will happen and also not having coverage can create future issues with preexisting conditions and whatnot. It's 4.5 months until the wedding and that's just too big of a gap.

So, speaking of the wedding. FH has good insurance through his job and my mom is encouraging us to get legally married but still have our May wedding. Obviously, I am not on board. (I would be on board with getting married now and canceling the May wedding, but she refuses and said she would just convert it into a reception/party, which is fine, but if we're spending the same money anyway let's just make it the real wedding.) However, my bridesmaids agree with my mom and when I shared my concerns about having a pretend wedding, they just told me not to tell anyone. Gah! 

Beyond ethical concerns, it just seems silly and pointless. If we get legally married, I would consider that our real wedding. Not even out of a principled stance, but just because emotionally that would be the day we'd be husband and wife which is all I want out of this whole damn thing anyway. I would want it to be a nice, special day with our parents there, and wear my dress and take pictures and exchange (and then wear) our rings. So then to repeat the same "special" activities four months later is not just dishonest but freaking stupid. I wouldn't enjoy them. And my ring is engraved with our date. In hindsight, maybe not the best choice.

Plus, we'd have to rope our officiant into it somehow, which she may not agree to, or else cancel her (losing our deposit) and have a friend be a pretend officiant. And I guess take off our rings to exchange again... and then next year on the anniversary of the legal marriage I would want to celebrate it because it was so special, but that wouldn't be the "public" anniversary. So then there'd be two anniversaries... ugh! The whole thing is just ludicrous.

I'm not considering the PPD, at all, just FYI. It's off the table. It's just frustrating to actually be in this position and think about the logistics of everything and how much work would go into being dishonest and my mom and WP encouraging me to do so. I quit talking about it with my WP because I was annoyed, so that part is fine now, but every time I talk to my mom about my research into the healthcare stuff she brings it back up. 

I know how you feel. FI was a student past when he turned 26, so at midnight on his 26th birthday, he lost his parents' health insurance. I was working and supporting us on not a great salary, and we discussed what would make the most sense. We actually weren't engaged at the time, but we still talked about getting "legally" married now and then having a wedding later. This was all before I had ever been on the knot or heard the term PPD, but still, I just couldn't seriously consider it. I know I wanted my close friends and family to be there, and I just couldn't stomach it.

We did look into a "domestic partnership," which is a thing in NY that allows you to do things like share insurance without being married. However, we're both residents of NJ and, short of living in NY, you need to be an employee of the city (or state?), and neither of us were. I think this would have been an acceptable alternative, so I encourage you to look into it in your state.

So, off to the health exchanges we went. High monthly rates and/or high deductibles made us nauseous. However, we never ever once for one second considered foregoing health insurance. Being in our twenties, we're at a prime age not for disease, but for accidents - car accidents, hiking accidents, literally anything. Plus, of course, we could get strep throat or like any other illness. And of course we aren't invincible and could get seriously ill.

So, moral of the story is we sucked it up and paid for the health exchanges. We chose a plan that we could afford the monthly rate but the deductible wasn't so high that we wouldn't have been able to afford that. I encourage you to even take the lowest price with a high deductible. This way, if something catastrophic happens, you're covered.

I say stop talking to these people about it. Unless your mom is paying for the wedding (sounds like she isn't?), it's completely your choice. Have a wedding now - legal ceremony and whatever reception you could have on short notice - or somehow find a way to fit health insurance into your budget. I know that's easier said than done, but just imagine how much harder it would be to fit a health-related expense into your budget.

I'm sorry if that sounds preachy or obnoxious, I just feel really really strongly about this (clearly).

Good luck!!

ETA: I don't even know why I got so preachy when you said you weren't considering the PPD. Really sorry about that. I have a friend whose boyfriend refused to get health insurance, even once he was employed and could get it through work, and it made me so mad I had to just never talk to her about it. I have strong feelings. But you're clearly in the right here and I'm clearly crazy. Sorry for my rantings!

ETA #2: Well I guess my ranting was related to the now-bolded comment in your post about considering not getting health insurance. But then you say you're not considering that either. I am just the worst today.

STARMOON44

So stop talking to her about the health insurance things? She's trying to solve a problem you're presenting to her. If you don't like her suggestions solve it yourself and tell her it's not a problem!

cupcait927

PPD aside, do not go without health insurance. Even if you have a crazy high deductible for four months until you can get on your FI's insurance once you're married, it's STILL better than going without. If you got into a car accident with a high deductible plan, you know that you'll only pay up to x amount and be done. If you don't have insurance, the bills you face could be tens of thousands of dollars. Plus you'll face a penalty next year on your taxes for each month that you go without coverage. So you either pay now or pay later. Also, there is no issue with pre-existing conditions any longer if you do decide to go without. Insurers cannot deny you coverage or deny treatment based on any pre-ex - that went way with health care reform.

spockforprez

Thanks for the advice, all. I am super bad at bean dipping, especially with my mom. I get really anxious and my way of dealing with it is talking about it at length from all angles (poor FH). My mom and I are close so I talk to her a lot. 

As far as the wedding costs go, we are paying for about half (a little over) and mom is paying for about half. So she's basically saying all the tent and chair rentals, food, etc. would still happen whether we got legally married now or not. So, in my view, let's just go as planned and make that our legal wedding.

@nerdwife, I don't think you were super preachy! I appreciate your reply I agree the health insurance is worth it. I am leaning towards paying for the COBRA coverage. I have until March to decide, though, and can backdate the coverage. So if I get a job with health insurance, no worries, and if I don't, I can elect for COBRA and just pay. It would be about $2500-$3000 ish for the 4-6 month period between January 1 and whenever I can get activated on FH's plan, which is about half of most of the deductibles on the healthcare exchange plans, and a lot more and better coverage. 

lyndausvi

I would suck it up and pay for the exchange for the few months.      Unless your FI's company picks up your premiums (not the norm), you will still have a premium expense.    You might find the difference it's all that much between the two for 4-5 months.

nerdwife

spockforprez said:

Thanks for the advice, all. I am super bad at bean dipping, especially with my mom. I get really anxious and my way of dealing with it is talking about it at length from all angles (poor FH). My mom and I are close so I talk to her a lot. 

As far as the wedding costs go, we are paying for about half (a little over) and mom is paying for about half. So she's basically saying all the tent and chair rentals, food, etc. would still happen whether we got legally married now or not. So, in my view, let's just go as planned and make that our legal wedding.

@nerdwife, I don't think you were super preachy! I appreciate your reply I agree the health insurance is worth it. I am leaning towards paying for the COBRA coverage. I have until March to decide, though, and can backdate the coverage. So if I get a job with health insurance, no worries, and if I don't, I can elect for COBRA and just pay. It would be about $2500-$3000 ish for the 4-6 month period between January 1 and whenever I can get activated on FH's plan, which is about half of most of the deductibles on the healthcare exchange plans, and a lot more and better coverage. 

If FI has good coverage and you can swing it, COBRA is probably the way to go. We weren't able to make that work at the time, but it's a good plan.

I also love to talk problems to death and am pretty close with my mom, so I get the conundrum, but it seems like this might be an issue you'll have to close off. My mom wanted some stuff involved in the ceremony that I wasn't super comfortable with (religious stuff in our non-denomination ceremony for a religion that FI isn't a part of), so I just stopped bringing it up. Worked like a charm!

Also, once you decide to definitely do COBRA and seal the deal, they'll be nothing more to discuss with her. Yay!

spockforprez

cupcait927 said:

PPD aside, do not go without health insurance. Even if you have a crazy high deductible for four months until you can get on your FI's insurance once you're married, it's STILL better than going without. If you got into a car accident with a high deductible plan, you know that you'll only pay up to x amount and be done. If you don't have insurance, the bills you face could be tens of thousands of dollars. Plus you'll face a penalty next year on your taxes for each month that you go without coverage. So you either pay now or pay later. Also, there is no issue with pre-existing conditions any longer if you do decide to go without. Insurers cannot deny you coverage or deny treatment based on any pre-ex - that went way with health care reform.

Thanks! To the bolded, that's what I thought too, but my COBRA letter says, "You can lose the right to avoid the preexisting condition exclusions that may be applied to you by other group health plans, in whole or in part, if you have a 63-day or more gap in health coverage." So maybe there's some loophole in the law. 

charlotte989875

We were in a very similar situation (I had insurance, H did not) and we were temporarily in a state with domestic partner benefits; check into this if you can! When we moved we no longer had DP benefits so we sucked it up on the market place and he got a plan with a moderate deductible and about $250 a month. It sucked, but it was only a few months and he (luckily, thankfully!) didn't need any medical services in those months.

spockforprez

charlotte989875 said:

We were in a very similar situation (I had insurance, H did not) and we were temporarily in a state with domestic partner benefits; check into this if you can! When we moved we no longer had DP benefits so we sucked it up on the market place and he got a plan with a moderate deductible and about $250 a month. It sucked, but it was only a few months and he (luckily, thankfully!) didn't need any medical services in those months.

We do have domestic partner coverage but you can't add them until an open enrollment period, which would be after the wedding anyway. Damn. Although maybe I should ask FH to call his HR and ask if me losing my coverage would be a qualifying event to allow him to modify his enrollment?

madamerwin

spockforprez said:

charlotte989875 said:

We were in a very similar situation (I had insurance, H did not) and we were temporarily in a state with domestic partner benefits; check into this if you can! When we moved we no longer had DP benefits so we sucked it up on the market place and he got a plan with a moderate deductible and about $250 a month. It sucked, but it was only a few months and he (luckily, thankfully!) didn't need any medical services in those months.

We do have domestic partner coverage but you can't add them until an open enrollment period, which would be after the wedding anyway. Damn. Although maybe I should ask FH to call his HR and ask if me losing my coverage would be a qualifying event to allow him to modify his enrollment?

I would be shocked if you losing insurance was not a qualifying event. 

When H started at his airline job, we were not yet engaged. I had my own health insurance, but in order for me to get his other benefits (like flying for free), we had to be married or domestic partners. The weird part about the domestic partnership requirement is that since his company is in Washington state, we were allowed to file as domestic partners with the city of Seattle (we live in Oregon). It basically had no legal standing - we did not even have to give our social security numbers - but it is all that we needed to do for me to get his benefits. I could have gotten on his insurance as a domestic partner if I needed to.

So I definitely agree with PPs about looking in to domestic partnership laws in your state and/or his company's rules - you may be able to work around not being married.

If domestic partnership isn't an option, I agree that you should probably just suck it up and pay for COBRA (if you anticipate having any large medical expenses in the next 6 months) or the healthcare exchange (if you don't think you will even need insurance). I would definitely urge you not to go without, though - you never know when you will need insurance!

princessleia22

spockforprez said:

charlotte989875 said:

We were in a very similar situation (I had insurance, H did not) and we were temporarily in a state with domestic partner benefits; check into this if you can! When we moved we no longer had DP benefits so we sucked it up on the market place and he got a plan with a moderate deductible and about $250 a month. It sucked, but it was only a few months and he (luckily, thankfully!) didn't need any medical services in those months.

We do have domestic partner coverage but you can't add them until an open enrollment period, which would be after the wedding anyway. Damn. Although maybe I should ask FH to call his HR and ask if me losing my coverage would be a qualifying event to allow him to modify his enrollment?

I think a change in job status or losing prior health coverage typically counts as a qualifying event to allow waiver of open enrollment period.

cupcait927

spockforprez said:

cupcait927 said:

PPD aside, do not go without health insurance. Even if you have a crazy high deductible for four months until you can get on your FI's insurance once you're married, it's STILL better than going without. If you got into a car accident with a high deductible plan, you know that you'll only pay up to x amount and be done. If you don't have insurance, the bills you face could be tens of thousands of dollars. Plus you'll face a penalty next year on your taxes for each month that you go without coverage. So you either pay now or pay later. Also, there is no issue with pre-existing conditions any longer if you do decide to go without. Insurers cannot deny you coverage or deny treatment based on any pre-ex - that went way with health care reform.

Thanks! To the bolded, that's what I thought too, but my COBRA letter says, "You can lose the right to avoid the preexisting condition exclusions that may be applied to you by other group health plans, in whole or in part, if you have a 63-day or more gap in health coverage." So maybe there's some loophole in the law. 

I work in health insurance as a broker and unless there's some crazy restriction that I'm not aware of you, you don't need to worry about being denied due to pre-existing conditions any longer, regardless of how long you go without insurance. 

As far as the qualifying event - yes, you losing coverage is considered a qualifying event, as long as he adds you within 30 days of you losing coverage. There's also tax implications (the cost of the coverage once you're added could be considered taxable income) and some employers do not allow for DPs, even if the state as a whole does say that DPs can be added.

tigerlily6

Health insurance... an important but insanely frustrating part of adulting, isn't it? 

My FI and I are trying to figure out the whole thing right now, too. I'm 27 and a grad student, and got fed up with trying to figure out the marketplace which was quoting me $350/ mo, so I went through a private insurance company for catastrophic coverage. $202/ mo with basic dental. Hurts for sure, but I think it's important to have. 

FI is 29, working on his PhD with a fellowship, and currently has pretty good health insurance through the university, but only for the next few months until he graduates. Come May, he may be paying out of pocket with me until a job comes along. 

 Even though getting married earlier would have helped us financially (for a few months) it was worth it for us to wait and just get married according to original plans. But I definitely wanted some kind of health insurance -- it's worth making some sacrifices to pay for it (we don't have cable, only one cellphone between the two of us, and collect grocery coupons like crazy). All it takes is one clumsy fall and you could need thousand dollar screws in your ankle and expensive drugs to numb the pain. Brother had that happen a few years ago, and he was very glad to have insurance. 

ETA for spelling.

OliveOilsMom

princessleia22 said:

spockforprez said:

charlotte989875 said:

We were in a very similar situation (I had insurance, H did not) and we were temporarily in a state with domestic partner benefits; check into this if you can! When we moved we no longer had DP benefits so we sucked it up on the market place and he got a plan with a moderate deductible and about $250 a month. It sucked, but it was only a few months and he (luckily, thankfully!) didn't need any medical services in those months.

We do have domestic partner coverage but you can't add them until an open enrollment period, which would be after the wedding anyway. Damn. Although maybe I should ask FH to call his HR and ask if me losing my coverage would be a qualifying event to allow him to modify his enrollment?

I think a change in job status or losing prior health coverage typically counts as a qualifying event to allow waiver of open enrollment period.

This.  I was carrying the coverage for H & I since he got a payout for not taking insurance at his job.  But then my job drastically changed our plan from a Cadillac plan to a high deductible plan.  H talked to the benefits person at his job and she said that due the change in my health coverage options, it was considered change of life.  Your FI should speak directly with a benefits coordinator at his job or even directly with someone at his insurance.

cupcait927

scribe95 said:

If it makes you feel any better employer sponsored health insurance isn't all that much better than the exchange. I have a $5,000 deductible and pay $150 a month. I would do the exchange for the few months without batting an eye. 

While I'm lucky that my employer covers the cost of my coverage, H and I have a $12,000 deductible on our health plan. It pains me to think of potentially facing $12,000 in medical bills in a catastrophe, but it's far better than going without. 

If you end up not getting this PT job and/or getting coverage through this employer, you do make a good point about being able to backdate your COBRA coverage. Honestly though, that's a lot of money to be paying when you could get a cheap high deductible plan for those four months. Hospitals will work with you on paying your bills if something were to happen - they don't do that when they're looking for premium. 

madamerwin

scribe95 said:

If it makes you feel any better employer sponsored health insurance isn't all that much better than the exchange. I have a $5,000 deductible and pay $150 a month. I would do the exchange for the few months without batting an eye. 

Damn, that sucks! I thought mine was bad with a $1500 deductible and $50/month... I guess I shouldn't complain.

ShesSoCold

madamerwin said:

scribe95 said:

If it makes you feel any better employer sponsored health insurance isn't all that much better than the exchange. I have a $5,000 deductible and pay $150 a month. I would do the exchange for the few months without batting an eye. 

Damn, that sucks! I thought mine was bad with a $1500 deductible and $50/month... I guess I shouldn't complain.

Uhhh H and I have a $12,000 deductible and we pay $416 a month.

AW3380

Does the government not help subsidize health insurance premiums bought through the exchange anymore?  I was in a similar situation to OP this time last year and because all I was "earning" was unemployment I received a subsidy towards my health insurance premium that made it pretty cheap.  May have changed since last year but thought I would mention it. 

Also, in regards to high deductibles, one thing to keep in mind is that for many hospitals, if you are in trouble financially they will work with you and possibly write off some of your medical expenses.  A few years ago my dad was having issues related to his heart valve replacement and was hospitalized a handful of times.  He is on disability so income is limited.  He had to submit a good amount of paperwork but when it was all said and done he had to pay very little for those hospital stays.  I think it ended up being less than $100 for each one.  As many PP's have said it is important to be covered under insurance even for a few months.  COBRA is outrageously priced!  I would obtain a policy through the exchange.  I ended up only needing mine for a couple months before I got a job that offered coverage. 

tigerlily6

These deductibles/ premiums. WOOF!

princessleia22

cupcait927 said:

scribe95 said:

If it makes you feel any better employer sponsored health insurance isn't all that much better than the exchange. I have a $5,000 deductible and pay $150 a month. I would do the exchange for the few months without batting an eye. 

While I'm lucky that my employer covers the cost of my coverage, H and I have a $12,000 deductible on our health plan. It pains me to think of potentially facing $12,000 in medical bills in a catastrophe, but it's far better than going without. 

If you end up not getting this PT job and/or getting coverage through this employer, you do make a good point about being able to backdate your COBRA coverage. Honestly though, that's a lot of money to be paying when you could get a cheap high deductible plan for those four months. Hospitals will work with you on paying your bills if something were to happen - they don't do that when they're looking for premium. 

DH just started getting insurance through work.  His plan is $10,000 deductible, but his work covers portion of premium and he only has to pay about $30/month.  But his plan also has a very limited network of doctors. Adding me would have cost another $100/month and we would share the $10k deductible. 

But, none of my doctors are in-network for his plan, so I decided to stay on own my individual coverage. For myself, last year my plan had been $3,500 deductible with $250/month premium.  They stopped offering that plan, so this year I'm have $6k deductible and $200/month premium.  I'm not thrilled with the higher deductible, but at least it's 100% coverage and I know that, no matter what happens, that is all I have to pay.  DH and I have each gone through previous health issues that resulted in huge bills.  Mine resulted in over $500k in a year, but I was lucky enough to have insurance that covered it all.  I've had friends that had accidents that caused serious injury and they just dodged creditor calls for years until the bills got written off and past the point of collections. I don't want to deal with that. I figure that most regular medical expenses are affordable (usually less than $100).  If something big happens, $6k isn't something that will bankrupt me.  I can make payments and deal with it.  But, having $500k in bills or having to forgo some treatment because of lack of insurance isn't something I'm willing to risk.

cupcait927

AW3380 said:

Does the government not help subsidize health insurance premiums bought through the exchange anymore?  I was in a similar situation to OP this time last year and because all I was "earning" was unemployment I received a subsidy towards my health insurance premium that made it pretty cheap.  May have changed since last year but thought I would mention it. 

Also, in regards to high deductibles, one thing to keep in mind is that for many hospitals, if you are in trouble financially they will work with you and possibly write off some of your medical expenses.  A few years ago my dad was having issues related to his heart valve replacement and was hospitalized a handful of times.  He is on disability so income is limited.  He had to submit a good amount of paperwork but when it was all said and done he had to pay very little for those hospital stays.  I think it ended up being less than $100 for each one.  As many PP's have said it is important to be covered under insurance even for a few months.  COBRA is outrageously priced!  I would obtain a policy through the exchange.  I ended up only needing mine for a couple months before I got a job that offered coverage. 

The bolded is an excellent point that I had forgot to mention. The government does indeed still offer subsidies for policies bought on the exchange. OP, you can check the site to see if you're eligible for any kind of subsidy, which I imagine you would be since you are unemployed, and they won't count your FI's income since you aren't married yet.

artbyallie

scribe95 said:

There is definitely a subsidy. Though I think - not a tax person - you essentially have to pay it back or something weird like that the next year. Does that sound right?

Found it - If your income exceeds the estimate you provided when you applied for health insurance, then complex connections between the health law and the tax code cab reduce or even eliminate your tax refund.

Yes. The first year of the subsidy we underestimated our income and the ~600ish we owed back for the year wiped out our refund and then some. Hopefully we did better for last year and won't owe this April.

spockforprez

I'm an intelligent person and I really did the best I could when applying for the healthcare exchange, but it was VERY confusing lol. When it asked for income, I checked through all the FAQs and couldn't find anything specific about it, so I just put zero. So, I wasn't eligible for any subsidy as a result. Can I go back through and change that?

I have an interview at 2pm and the recruiter sent me the benefits package. Healthcare is offered to PT associates! Fingers crossed  

kvruns

spockforprez said:

I'm an intelligent person and I really did the best I could when applying for the healthcare exchange, but it was VERY confusing lol. When it asked for income, I checked through all the FAQs and couldn't find anything specific about it, so I just put zero. So, I wasn't eligible for any subsidy as a result. Can I go back through and change that?

I have an interview at 2pm and the recruiter sent me the benefits package. Healthcare is offered to PT associates! Fingers crossed  

Yea you need to update your income - it might have to be done through an appeal. AN income of $0 means you're not eligible for the exchange since in theory you're eligible for your state's Medicaid program. Your income should be what you project to make for the year. It is a delicate balance to project because if you end up underestimating you could owe back part of the subsidy; overestimate and you would get more back on taxes.

I would guess that they have a waiting period for benefits, especially if they offer to PT so that is something to consider

spockforprez

I was able to get added to my FH's health insurance! We get all the paperwork on Thursday so I'll go through everything but it will be far cheaper than either the exchange or COBRA, that's for sure.

I haven't heard back about the job yet, but if I get an offer I will likely decline it. It is a part time job, but could be up to 36 hours, and I would need to be available 8-5 M-F and 9-2 on Saturdays and the schedule would be made a week or so in advance, like retail. When I originally thought to do a PT position I was thinking it would be a set schedule, 8-2 or something, and I could go back to school full-time. With this job I would not be able to do that, I'd have to go part-time at night like I have been doing. 

With health insurance now being a non-issue I'd like to look into temping. I could get some experience in new fields and could probably work around all the wedding-related events for myself and my cousin this spring a lot easier.

Thanks for all the advice and counsel you ladies have given me over the last month. I truly appreciate it, and you!