If you're bored today, help me decide which internship situation is better for me. I have to complete an unpaid dietetic internship that will start sometime this summer. My job is letting me take a leave of absence and work PT from home when I can. I lose my benefits if I work <30 hrs/wk but have the option of paying $530/month OOP for them. If I go with a private policy then when I'm done with my internship, my work insurance will not cover pre-existing conditions for 12 months. I have allergies and asthma sometimes (but it's very well-controlled) so that's something to consider.
Internship A: full-time, 40 hrs per week, will take 6 months to complete. Cost is $8,000.
Pros: I will be finished by December. This program is through a school so I would qualify for student loans and wouldn't have to be repaying my current loans until I'm finished. I will probably have a better experience and relationship with my preceptors since I will be in their facilities FT.
Cons: I would be pretty absent from my job, only working the minimum amount to finish what absolutely needs to be done. I would be bringing in less money, although I would plan on keeping the $8K tuition in savings until after I graduate just to have an extra safety net. I would have to decide what I want to do about my health insurance as well.
---------- Internship B: part-time, approx 20 hours per week. It will take 1 year to complete it. I would be able to work 30 hrs/wk. The tuition is $8,000 that I will have to pay when it starts.
Pros: I would be able to work 30 hrs/wk so I could keep my benefits. I would be able to work in the office a few days per week so that would make my boss happy. I would be taking a hit in my paycheck but probably wouldn't notice the difference in pay. This program is pretty flexible as well which I think would be good while I'm working.
Cons: It will take a year for me to complete and I just want to get it over with as soon as possible. The more I work in the office, the more work I'm going to have. I'm afraid this will be hard to juggle with my internship. This will be a lot of work for me (working/interning 50 hrs per week plus assignments and projects on top of that). I feel like I won't get as much out of my rotations since I will only be there 2-3 days per week. It's not affiliated with any school, so I would have to repay my student loans while completing the internship and I would not qualify for student loans.
Post by cricketwife on Feb 9, 2013 17:01:55 GMT -5
It sounds like you want A. If you can afford A and can afford health insurance while doing it, then I think it's a good choice for you. If not, you've got to go with B, IMO.
Post by awkwardpenguin on Feb 9, 2013 18:21:03 GMT -5
What is the job plan after you're done the internship? Will you go back to your current job, or be looking for another job?
I actually think your might be wrong about your work insurance and the pre-existing condition exclusion. Basically, HIPPA requires that if you have had continuous health insurance, in most cases pre-existing condition exclusions don't apply. You need to have NO break in coverage, not even a day.
What is the job plan after you're done the internship? Will you go back to your current job, or be looking for another job?
I actually think your might be wrong about your work insurance and the pre-existing condition exclusion. Basically, HIPPA requires that if you have had continuous health insurance, in most cases pre-existing condition exclusions don't apply. You need to have NO break in coverage, not even a day.
I'd print out that page and bring it to HR to talk to them about the health insurance.
This is where things get muddy and why I'm having a hard decision. I actually started this whole process (over 1.5 years ago) with my boss' blessing and encouragement, and my intention was to always stay at my current job. Then my boss quit. I just got a new boss literally less than a week ago. She has a pretty bad reputation of being difficult to work with. I want to say that I plan on staying at my current job but now I'm wondering if I'm going to be miserable for an entire year trying to finish this internship.
Thanks for the HIPAA info. I will have to read through it. I met with my benefits coordinator at my job and she is the one who told me about the pre-existing condition issue.
Post by midnightmare81 on Feb 10, 2013 6:10:54 GMT -5
Yea. As long as you had coverage the whole time, they can not really deny your pre-existing conditions just because it was not through THEIR insurance. Did you mention buying health insurance or did they maybe think you would be without it, thus the lack of coverage?
If you can afford it, I would do A. Even though B has less internship hours, it sounds like it would be to much with work. May as well get it banged out quickly, esp since your not sure you would stay with your current job. How will you pay for internship A if you plan to keep the student loan $?
I talked to the benefits person about either buying my own individual policy or joining the college's health policy while I'm a student there so she knew I was not talking about a break in coverage. She said the reason I wouldn't be covered for pre existing conditions is because I would not be on a group policy. She told me if I joined my H's insurance then I would be covered for everything once I switched back, but his is too expensive. I did not see anything in that HIPAA link that specifically said they couldn't do this. Does anyone know where I could find it?
If I were to do option A then I would take out a student loan for the tuition and keep the 8k in savings for emergencies while I'm not working. We can make it off of H's salary but it will be more tight than what we are used to. I do not think we will have to touch the 8k so I plan on paying off the loan once I finish the program.
Does anyone know where it specifically says in HIPAA that you cannot impose a pre-existing condition clause if someone has a private policy? I want to take this back to my benefits coordinator but I need something written. I have read several sites and haven't been able to find anything.