Saturday, January 24, 2009

More insurance woes...

This time disability-related.

Disney self-insures and when I spoke with our head of corporate HR about my condition, he was very helpful and we discussed Disney's disability policy, which was to pay benefits equal to 90% of base compensation. The 10% differential would be something I could absorb without too much trouble, and although nobody likes to take a surprise pay cut, it was the least of my concerns given my health.

Unfortunately, that policy seems to have changed effective less than a month ago. Now, it seems, Disney only pays 50% of salary and leaves "the rest" up to state disability. Unfortunately, state disability defines "the rest" differently than Disney or I would. The net-net is state disability payments are capped and so I'm going to be taking a 40% pay cut for the next 10 months. That, combined with a few gems like insurance disallowing the tests yesterday, is going to great a much bigger financial burden.

I earn a good living, and we're not going to quality for any other assistance. Nor would I accept it, as those programs are needed by people who have less than we do. But it's still going to be very difficult to make ends meet without making drastic changes like taking our daughter out of her school, selling our house (in this economy?????), etc.

Oh well. One more kick in the groin when I need it the least. I need some good news for a change...I remain strong but there are just so many things that can go wrong before things start to crack a bit.