Hi. My husband keeps going back and forth about staying in the military or not. If he does stay in he is planning to try become a officer. I have some health issues, so kind of scared if we get out if I will get covered with insurance. I have no idea what civilian life is like. Any ideas what the average cost of health insurance is, so I can just get a idea.

We are a family of 5 so what is the average price for health insurance?

Trying to find out if it's worth it getting out or not. Don't want to regret getting out. My husband is a FC so he would be able to get a decent job if he does get out.

Also what is officer life like compared to enlisted? Do officers go out to sea more, etc. What are all the duty stations offered to officers?

Sorry for all the questions, just need some advice :D

Thanks

Hi. My husband keeps going back and forth about staying in the military or not. If he does stay in he is planning to try become a officer. I have some health issues, so kind of scared if we get out if I will get covered with insurance. I have no idea what civilian life is like. Any ideas what the average cost of health insurance is, so I can just get a idea.

We are a family of 5 so what is the average price for health insurance?

Trying to find out if it's worth it getting out or not. Don't want to regret getting out. My husband is a FC so he would be able to get a decent job if he does get out.

Also what is officer life like compared to enlisted? Do officers go out to sea more, etc. What are all the duty stations offered to officers?

Sorry for all the questions, just need some advice :D

Thanks

Thats (the bolded) is hard to answer...It depends where you work and what they offer. My BIL works for BFI (he is a garbage man) and he pays 50 bucks for their Health Insurance a month because his union pays the rest.

Hi. My husband keeps going back and forth about staying in the military or not. If he does stay in he is planning to try become a officer. I have some health issues, so kind of scared if we get out if I will get covered with insurance. I have no idea what civilian life is like. Any ideas what the average cost of health insurance is, so I can just get a idea.

We are a family of 5 so what is the average price for health insurance?

Trying to find out if it's worth it getting out or not. Don't want to regret getting out. My husband is a FC so he would be able to get a decent job if he does get out.

Also what is officer life like compared to enlisted? Do officers go out to sea more, etc. What are all the duty stations offered to officers?

Sorry for all the questions, just need some advice :D

Thanks

Thats (the bolded) is hard to answer...It depends where you work and what they offer. My BIL works for BFI (he is a garbage man) and he pays 50 bucks for their Health Insurance a month because his union pays the rest. Oh and I should add they have THE BEST insurance of anyone I know.

Yes, it depends on where he would work. I pay $89 two times a month for myself and 1 dependant. It's not bad insurance. I have $10 RX co-pay, $15 doc co-pay and $30 specialist co-pay. It's average ins. If he were to work for the government (not military obviouisly) or at a hospital the insurance is good.

Yes, it depends on where he would work. I pay $89 two times a month for myself and 1 dependant. It's not bad insurance. I have $10 RX co-pay, $15 doc co-pay and $30 specialist co-pay. It's average ins. If he were to work for the government (not military obviouisly) or at a hospital the insurance is good.

But its way pricey...my husband works for the gov't and our insurance isnt cheap...We have Blue Cross as does my sisters but they get more things then we do, they dont need referrals or anything like that.

So even having health issues I should be able to get good insurance?

So even having health issues I should be able to get good insurance?

It really depends on the pre-existing condition. Some might cover some may not. I use to work for a an medical insurance company.

One reason my dh decided to go back in the army is for the benefits.

We are a family of five and we paid 350 bucks per month with a 10% co-pay. He worked in the medical industry in management. This goes to show how much money you make isnt what the determining factor to the cost of insurance. I have over 10k in medical bills that I am still paying for. One of my daughters as health issues and medical bills were killing us.

Insurance really depends on the employer. The cost varies quite a bit.

It really epends onw hat your preexisting condition is. Something like heart disease or diabeties are hard to get covered because they can cause much more problems(my mom is diabetic) like stroke or a heart attack or something similar. So it really depends on what your condition is, and what company the employer goes through. Worse case scenario is that you would have to buy it independantly, and that can get very pricey as well. For an idea, call the local blue cross blue shied office and they can give you a quote!

healthcare is not cheap. That is one benefit I know my family really looks at as a HUGE reason to be in the military long term.

You can still get great insurance...it all depends on your or your husband's job. If you or he works for a big company with a good benefits package you should be fine.

As far as officer vs. enlisted: life is MUCH easier on officers in my opinion. My df is an officer and he has life much easier than the enlisted guys he works with.

As far as deployments and duty stations, there are officers everywhere that there are enlisted people, so there are just as many deployments and the duty stations are the same.

In my opinion you can have just as many benefits and better pay in civilian life, but it just might take more looking. And NO MORE deployments. Think about that :hehe

Good luck with your decisions!

yeap would be nice to have him home everyday. Just trying to weight out the pros and cons. Husband is on deployment and he just changed him mind about staying in for 20 years, which was a big surprise for me. I really don't mind the military life, I learned to except it and deal with the time apart from your loved one.
Just don't want us to get out of the military and make a huge mistake. Would be a big difference going to civilian. So used to military housing (no extra bills), Medical Covered, reliable job, and good retirement plan. grr what a big decision.

But its way pricey...my husband works for the gov't and our insurance isnt cheap...We have Blue Cross as does my sisters but they get more things then we do, they dont need referrals or anything like that.

Ah... I guess it really depends on which type of government though. A woman I work with her hubby works for the city government and he has free ins.

depends what civilian company he would work at, what their rates/coverages are. I heard once from an educated blue collor worker he was paying $1,200 for a family of four monthly!! (and yes, we agreed their benefits were bad).

The other thing you need to look at besides the heath care is the stability of a job. With the economy not being that great, it would be hard to have a job and keep it. Plus, he would be starting out on the bottom end of the spectrium. First fired sometimes.

You also need to add in housing costs into your pay where in the military you get that extra, some of the extra perks like quite a few days off, and stability.

The civilian world you get freedom to leave the job if you want, options to move on, can move where you want to.

Make a pro/con list and see what happens.

You can still get great insurance...it all depends on your or your husband's job. If you or he works for a big company with a good benefits package you should be fine.

As far as officer vs. enlisted: life is MUCH easier on officers in my opinion. My df is an officer and he has life much easier than the enlisted guys he works with.
As far as deployments and duty stations, there are officers everywhere that there are enlisted people, so there are just as many deployments and the duty stations are the same.

In my opinion you can have just as many benefits and better pay in civilian life, but it just might take more looking. And NO MORE deployments. Think about that :hehe

Good luck with your decisions!

:wow What does he do? (Don't mean to threadjack, just this statement jumped out at me). I'm thinking that this might be a misleading statement.

My dh is in Engineering. As the Dept Head he's usually the last to leave and the first one in. He gets calls on his phone 24/7 and not only does he have to do his job, but manage the personal lives of all the people who work for him (there's alot of crap that comes with manageing over 350 personnel). But right now he's in Iraq so he's not at his "normal" job to begin with. Nothing easy there.

'O''s vs 'E's can be debated til everyone is blue in the face. Everyone's job has it's hardships, and everyone can be stationed everywhere. I think that's a fairer observation.

My husband is a FC

:wow What does he do? (Don't mean to threadjack, just this statement jumped out at me). I'm thinking that this might be a misleading statement.

My dh is in Engineering. As the Dept Head he's usually the last to leave and the first one in. He gets calls on his phone 24/7 and not only does he have to do his job, but manage the personal lives of all the people who work for him (there's alot of crap that comes with manageing over 350 personnel). But right now he's in Iraq so he's not at his "normal" job to begin with. Nothing easy there.

'O''s vs 'E's can be debated til everyone is blue in the face. Everyone's job has it's hardships, and everyone can be stationed everywhere. I think that's a fairer observation.

He an electrical officer, so the hours are probably pretty similar to engineering in that anytime something goes wrong, they have to be there fixing it. I didn't mean to start a big debate or anything; I was just speaking from personal experience. Sorry if that came off wrong! :blush

At least on my df's ship, the officers play more of an administrative/oversight role. I didn't mean to imply that anyone has it "better" than anyone else; they all have to work pretty shitty hours, and I know all jobs have their ups and downs.

Thanks for the info, look to think about. Making pros/cons list already :-)

well i work and my company pays for the "employees" benefit.....but if you want to add a dependent or a family, man. well to add a child it is like 189 every 2 weeks and for a family 3 or more is like 429 every two weeks:wow!!! so yeah not worth it in my situation:no. i am trying to convince my husband to stay in but i guess i will wait and see;). our daughter is under tricare, thank god! you cant just take the pay into concideration you have to look at everything, if he gets out is there a guarntee (sp) that he will make x amount of money and have great benefits? and i dont know what your health issues are but alot of insurance companies wont cover anything that is pre-existing. you really need to look into everything.

hope everything works out for the best!!:D

So even having health issues I should be able to get good insurance?

Yes, if you get insurance through your husband's employer, it is against the law to deny you coverage for past health issues. If there is any lapse in coverage (say you get out of the military and wait more than, say, 60 days before the new job), you could be subject to some pre-existing conditions clause, but you won't have a problem at all if you carry the insurance until the new one is effective. Make sense?

PM me anytime. (I used to work in employee benefits)

Oh and if you decide to get out you can apply for Transitional help and get to keep tricare medical for 6 months.

My health issue is a genetic disorder were I can get TIAs, strokes, & heart attacks. But I get medical treatment mainly when I'm pregnant but i'm worried about insurance when I'm older.

Hubby said he could work at a good company doing pretty much any computer job. Or work on Aegis Systems for like companies like Lockheed Martin. Said at least 80k. Which sounds great to me lol. Just mainly was worried about insurance. Going see if I can get a hold of that company to get some info.

This all is dependent on where you live. There should be a site that should quote things like that, you put in area, income, number of kids and a quote should be given. Check out the big name insurance companies and compare. Good luck.

Ok thanks, going look for a site like that.