Open Enrollment Time
Tip It!It’s that time of year again… Time for benefits open enrollment…
I was just looking through our options, and it appears that we’ll be sitting tight with our current options this year. The biggest change is that we’ll be paying 14.5% more for health insurance this year (and so will my employer). The good news is that our dental coverage will cost the same, and my group life insurance is going down slightly.
Also note that employee retirement contribution limits are staying the same this year, so there won’t be any big changes in that area.
The only thing that we actually have to do is to set up our flexible spending account (which has to be done every year). In 2007, we set aside $1,200 and have essentially maxed that out. In truth, we’re well beyond this amount, but I’ve been lazy about submitting receipts. I haven’t yet decided how much to set aside for 2008. Since we’re not expecting any overly-large expenditures in terms of health care (no more braces until at least 2009), I’ll probably opt for the same amount this year.
Published on October 31st, 2007 - 7 Comments
Filed under: Insurance
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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October 31st, 2007 at 11:19 am
Sounds very familiar. Just posted on this topic this morning. We considered dropping the employer plan and doing a private policy to keep the premium down. In the end, the dollars just didn’t add up enough to make sense, so we’ll be staying where we are.
October 31st, 2007 at 7:21 pm
One of the best things about Flexible Spending Accounts (besides the tax advantages) is that it’s basically an interest free loan; you can claim your full years amount at the beginning of the year I typically get my eye exams and a year’s supply of disposable contacts in January each year. I can get reimbursed about five days after I fax in my receipts to our company
On the other side of the “forfeit” coin…if you claim your FSA money early in the year and quit your job, your company cannot claim the balance “owed” from your final paycheck…it’s basically free money. So if you’re planning to quit in January, but need that Lasik, then claim as much as you need during Open Enrollement, get your surgery in January, claim and get your FSA reimbursement, and then quit!
November 1st, 2007 at 7:00 am
My wife is a teacher and there are options upon options with the state plans. It took me a good 2 hours to sort through all the possibilities. I don’t even want to think about changing things.
November 1st, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Isn’t it fun to watch your benefits get more expensive and cover fewer things each year?
~Oswegan
November 1st, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Oswegan: Not really…