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Three things to consider about giving up insurance and benefits:
1) The older you get, the harder it becomes to get back in,
compared to remaining covered.
2) Spouses are not guaranteed to keep their jobs with all
the lovely bennies. Backup insurance and benefits would
start looking really good when your spouse walked in the
door with "that" look on their face and carrying the contents
of their office desk.
3) Plans/coverages differ. Even if employers use the same
insurer, plans might not have the same coverage. Therefore,
your plan and your spouse's plan might not be 100% overlapping
or redundant. More so if you have different group insurance
providers.
It can be very handy to have a spousal plan that covers
you for, say, massage therapy, when your own plan does
not. It can be very handy, when you've used up dental
or physio benefits on one plan to have some non-overlapping
coverage on the other plan to save you a few additional bucks.
Some plans have limits for two-year periods (on glasses,
crowns and orthodontistry, prosthetics and services, etc.),
and you'll really appreciate the spouse's plan taking up
some or all of the slack during the between year.
Here's some separate advice for you youngsters...
If you hurt yourself (car accident, sports injury,
hurricane drops your roof on you... etc.) consider
very carefully if you should claim for back or
neck problems.
If there's a big lawsuit or a BIG insurance settlement
to be had, then obviously go ahead. You need the money,
or it's a gigantic windfall.
BUT, if you get t-boned or rear-ended or slip on the
dock at the cottage and find yourself with neck pain
or back pain and want to use up your entitlement to
some physiotherapy and massage therapy, find a doctor
that will prescribe it without mentioning
that it's your neck or back.
The reason is that the keywords "back" or "neck" will
be entered into the insurer's database, next to your
name, which means it is entered into every insurer's
database, for the rest of eternity. You read earlier
in this thread that one person is unable to get single-
person insurance due to a pre-existing condition.
That's what happens.
Consider that many banks will require you to be
insured when you negotiate a home mortgage. The
bank very reasonably wants some assurance that
they will be paid back. They will often have an
arrangement with an insurer to get you covered
for death and disability, sufficient to pay off
the mortgage if you become disabled or dead.
Similarly, you want either the bank's coverage or
some other coverage so you don't stick your spouse
with the payment should you die or become unable
to function.
Life (death) insurance remains pretty easy to get
- they just jack up the rate if you're older or have
certain predispositions making you more likely to
croak before the mortgage is paid up.
But they'll simply refuse you any form of disability
insurance if they find "neck" or "back" references
in your file, or if you speak those words to the
examiner when they send the nurse around for the
confirmation visit. Not only does that leave you
uncovered on behalf of your spouse, it could also
trigger a clause in the mortgage contract, whereby
you suddenly need to find another lender.
The bank begins charging you the premiums as part
of your overall mortgage payment, and then the
insurer sends around a nurse or paramedic some
weeks or months later. If you get refused part
of the coverage, they don't necessarily tell the bank,
and the bank doesn't necessarily revise its records
to stop charging you for the full coverage (death
plus disability), even though you now have only
the death insurance.
Ask me how I know this. :-)
Of course, I'm in Canada and it might be impossible
in the USA for such things to happen.
But in case it isn't, consider how you could be affected.
Of course I would NEVER advocate that you lie.....
Cheers,
-k
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