Daily Grumble

Last spring my company reorganized and I was reclassified a "consultant", hired by contract and no longer an employee. (Even though I'm doing the same thing I have been for the last seven years.) Therefore I am now self-insured and while my insurance is 100% tax deductible, I was still floored today to see this month's increase in my premium, which leapt from $636.40 to $800.13.

I called Oxford to inquire and was told flatly that it was "just a standard rate increase", their thanks to me for completing my first year of self-insurance, I presume. Bah. I probably should have shopped around more vigorously, but when it all went down it was just too easy to stay with Oxford. There are some slight advantages to being a "consultant" but it still galls me to write that check every month. This month I think I'll write it out as "Eight Hundred FUCKING Dollars and Thirteen Cents." And then I will shop around.

And here only yesterday I was telling somebody that the only effect of this downward economy that I've personally seen so far is the rise of Honey-Nut Cheerios to $7.99 at the Food Emporium. I was joking, but that'll learn me to tempt fate.