Would you take this risk?

[vmars]

My office offers AFLAC & has a plan that allows me to collect $ when I am out on disability after I give birth. The cost is roughly $650/year and the payout would be between $2k - $3k.

The issue is the enrollment date is April 1st and they won't cover you if you are already PG. So this means if I get PG this cycle or next I won't get the benefit but I will still be paying into it (not sure if I can cancel at any time). So, WWYD? I am leaning towards no. We have a healthy efund and I'd rather just save the money myself then rely on a 3rd party for income. WDYT?

[lola]

I think deciding to buy any insurance policy is so tough! We went with a short term disability policy wayyyy back when we first started thinking about trying because we were in a position where we planned to start before the next open enrollment. I think it's been three years of paying for it now, but we haven't had a claim yet.

Ultimately, I think if you can swing the premium expenses it's a nice thing to be able to take your maternity leave w/o taking a significant hit to emergency funds. I'd probably buy it.

[vmars]

Mar 21, 2013 19:36:48 GMT -5 lola said:

I think deciding to buy any insurance policy is so tough! We went with a short term disability policy wayyyy back when we first started thinking about trying because we were in a position where we planned to start before the next open enrollment. I think it's been three years of paying for it now, but we haven't had a claim yet.

Ultimately, I think if you can swing the premium expenses it's a nice thing to be able to take your maternity leave w/o taking a significant hit to emergency funds. I'd probably buy it.

I do have short term disability at work, but this would be in addition to that $.

[lola]

Ooooh. Yeah, then I probably wouldn't do it.

[Deleted]

I took the short term disability from Aflac, but my job doesn't have short term disability or maternity leave.

Since your job offers short term disability, I don't think I would do it. As long as it is enough to cover my expensives alone. If it wasn't I would think about getting it to supplement my income.

[vanillahip]

I would definitely do it, you can cancel insurance at any time but you can only join during open enrollment in most cases. Ask your hr ahead of time what you'd need to do to cancel so you're ready just in case! I'd always rather have too much insurance than not enough!

ETA my job offers STD for maternity leave as well but only a percentage of my pay, my Aflac covers the rest so I have the same income through leave

[vmars]

Mar 22, 2013 6:28:03 GMT -5 vanillahip said:

I would definitely do it, you can cancel insurance at any time but you can only join during open enrollment in most cases. Ask your hr ahead of time what you'd need to do to cancel so you're ready just in case! I'd always rather have too much insurance than not enough!

ETA my job offers STD for maternity leave as well but only a percentage of my pay, my Aflac covers the rest so I have the same income through leave

I am going to ask the rep the cancellation policy - that way if I get PG this month I can cancel. May also get hospital plan because that will pay me almost $1k for giving birth. But also need to check if I am already pg on April 1st if I can use the benefit.