I don’t know about you, but my family has been through the ringer with corporate layoffs. With my own layoff happening many years ago, it was my first experience with the emotional toll of such an event. But since then…my husband has been “displaced” a hand full of times and each time resetting our annual healthcare deductible. I mean it’s bad enough that the deductibles tend to range from $3,000 to $8,000 per year but it’s even worse when you have an asthmatic son, two active and accident-prone children, and your own chronic conditions and just when you begin to approach the financial summit of your deductible, BOOM! Another layoff! Another reset.
It really has felt like I’ve been working just to pay taxes and medical deductibles. I really do pray there is no massive corporate conspiracy happening so that insurance companies don’t have to payout their fair share. But of course, I also hope that companies begin to understand the ripple effect of layoffs and begin more careful hiring and growth planning so they don’t have to keep yo-yoing with the lives and finances of their people. Yes, we understand that layoffs are business decisions, but we are too often finding ourselves in the midst of extreme life decisions. Do I pay my medical bill or do I feed my family?
I suspect we’ll only continue to make matters worse if we keep causing a reset with every “business decision” that results in a layoff. And perhaps this is a plea to our legislators to formulate a bill that would allow you credit for money already paid into your annual healthcare costs. What suggestions do you have? If you submit them to me, I promise to submit them to our local lawmen and women. Thank you in advance for promoting solutions vs. complaints.