Today was the deadline to enroll in my 2007 employee benefits, so I took some time to do so. It wasn’t necessary for me since my options are staying the same as my 2006 selections, but it did give me an opportunity to compare the prices.
The HMO medical program sponsored by Aetna increased from $612 to $684, an 11.8% increase. I was stronly considering the High Deductible Health Plan instead, which would have been a significantly less expensive option in terms of contributions.
The annual contribution for the dental PPO program increased from $122 to $130. The long-term disability program increased from $26 to $30 for the same coverage option.
Overall, my contribution is increasing from $760 to $814, more than typical inflation. This same coverage would have cost much more in the non-profit I used to work for, and they paid significantly less. I won’t complain too much. I am interested to see if these costs are typical in other financial services companies.
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Since your company has a high-deductible plan, open a Health Savings Account and contribute the max to it. I feel the HSA account is better than a Flex plan because you don’t lose the money at the end of the year. It basically works like a hybrid savings and IRA account. As an example, the State Farm one has a yearly $25 fee but pays a tiered interest rate. The tax savings from the HSA account and the savings from the lower premiums from the high deductible plan probably will save you a good amount of money.