[speaker001:] do you have any thoughts on company benefits
[speaker002:] I do but uh they're pretty slanted I want you to know
[speaker001:] I'm prepared
[speaker002:] uh my company was bought by another company
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and the majority of us were laid off
[speaker001:] oh okay I see where this is going
[speaker002:] uh-huh so you know uh what I would like to see well uh the really sad part of this is that I'm fifty five years old
[speaker001:] that's not that bad
[speaker002:] and beg your pardon
[speaker001:] that's not so sad
[speaker002:] oh my chances of getting another job are just really slim
[speaker001:] hm
[speaker002:] I was a systems analyst for an oil company
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] and you know they just I mean Sprint had uh two thousand jobs open I mean I'm sorry two hundred jobs open they had two thousand applications for this type of work you know it's just uh and I guess that's that's pretty far-fetched as benefits go
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but gosh you know I saw it I was fixed for life so uh
[speaker001:] I think more and more people are finding that out even people with state and and uh federal jobs it it's a shock
[speaker002:] it really is it really is but uh I I think uh I guess my feelings on this are that the one of the most important benefits we currently have is our health insurance
[speaker001:] that's true
[speaker002:] and that if there were some way to get that to follow you from job to job or so that you would not lose it if you have to leave a company
[speaker001:] isn't there some sort of deal where you can continue your benefits for eighteen months
[speaker002:] there is uh-huh and and that's fine but you know I'm still unemployed after about fourteen months okay
[speaker001:] oh yeah that's worrisome
[speaker002:] and when you switch yeah when you switch over the the premiums are really quite high and additionally I've had a heart attack
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] so it's going to be really tough for me to do this so you know uh in in my very personal way I feel that insurance is just one of the most important benefits we have now now with the political political situation the way it is I think that's going to change
[speaker001:] you talking about national health
[speaker002:] because I think we're going to have to have something of that sort
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] so that will cease to be as important a benefit
[speaker001:] I think that well I think the whole thing with this health insurance being so high is because people are
[speaker002:] what are your feelings what what do you feel
[speaker001:] suing left and right and just driving these costs up
[speaker002:] well I agree with you but do you know that's that's what makes this such a tremendous benefit if you can possible get group rates
[speaker001:] well I I have my own beef about health insurance I uh I'm not a spring chicken myself quite frankly um I raised a family and now I'd like to get back into my field which is teaching and it's at a time where school budgets are so far down that they're firing experienced people and also you know I'm I'm a art teacher which is a very small field out of a whole school there's two or three
[speaker002:] oh yes uh-huh
[speaker001:] and you know there are two hundred apliplations for one one job uh you send in a resume and they they don't even write a letter to you to say no thanks which
[speaker002:] yep they they don't have time
[speaker001:] yeah I suppose and um I do substitute teach and my biggest complaint is schools get a discount insurance school districts because they have so many people why can't they allow their substitutes to buy into it to pay ourselves just to get the lower rate that a group would have and they won't let us
[speaker002:] well you've you've approached it
[speaker001:] yeah they don't let you do it
[speaker002:] what is their thinking on it
[speaker001:] uh um I don't know I don't know
[speaker002:] have they said
[speaker001:] I just I just know it's not allowed
[speaker002:] okay have they said we cannot do this because
[speaker001:] yeah uh no not they they didn't get that far
[speaker002:] no because
[speaker001:] no because we we do we don't do this we don't do this and everybody thinks it's sort of a crying shame I have been divorced and I knew that uh when I was divorced I was allowed that eighteen months of insurance on my ex-husband's plan and I was allowed to pay for myself
[speaker002:] okay uh-huh
[speaker001:] at their lower rate and I don't see what the school district would have to lose by letting us pay for ourselves but
[speaker002:] is uh let's see are they paying a part of the premium
[speaker001:] well I they're paying all the premium for their full-time teachers
[speaker002:] oh they are
[speaker001:] yeah yeah that's part of their salary
[speaker002:] and have you offered to come in and have you offered to come in and pay the whole premium
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and they still won't let you
[speaker001:] no no it's just not policy
[speaker002:] that's crazy
[speaker001:] yeah that just doesn't seem to make any sense
[speaker002:] so what do you do about insurance
[speaker001:] well I am remarried now and my husband um quit his job to try some consulting he's an engineer and what he did was he joined you know if you join a group sometimes it's a little less he joined the Engineer's Society or some group like that and what he did which was actually very clever most people want to have
[speaker002:] ah yeah
[speaker001:] the lowest deductible and then get eighty percent of their money back and all of this my husband said why don't we take a five hundred dollar deductible if we have a little you know annual checkup here or there we can pay that that's not the problem