The Anti 9-to-5 Guide » Is health insurance a compelling enough reason to stay in a 9-to-5 job you hate?

Is health insurance a compelling enough reason to stay in a 9-to-5 job you hate?

February 5th, 2008

I was just reading this story in the Wall Street Journal on author Marci Alboher’s “slash” career concept (what some call “portfolio careers”). You know, successful, well-paid Fortune 500 CPA who scales back her hours by 40 percent a week so she can start an after-school arts program for disadvantaged kids or perhaps launch her own clothing line. The article is an inspiring read for anyone who’s thinking of scaling back on the day job to pursue an anti 9-to-5 gig on the side.

But I chuckled when I read this line:

Despite the benefits of workplace flexibility and increased job satisfaction, pursing a portfolio career can have drawbacks, including stalled earning power and trouble maintaining company-sponsored health insurance.

That’s like saying, You could go into non-profit work/the arts/teaching if you really wanted to, but you’d give up all that money that you could have made had you stayed in the corporate gig you found unrewarding.*

That’s why they call ‘em tradeoffs, WSJ! Get your life and happiness back, or get $20,000, $30,000, or however much more a year in benefits and/or pay.

People have been choosing quality of life over guaranteed cash for decades. And besides, if you’re working 80 hours a week at your corporate job (as one of the subjects of this article was), are you really making that $100K salary? I would argue that your salary shrinks to $50K, since once upon a less-overworked time, salaries were based on a 40-hour workweek.

I’ve interviewed a lot of people in the last two years who feel beholden to a 9-to-5 career they hate because it affords them health insurance. For those with kids, the choice is easy; they suck it up because they don’t want to worry about how they’ll pay for a pediatrician visit. I can certainly appreciate that.

But what about those with no humanoid dependents? Is a few thousand bucks a year (how much individual healthcare costs) really worth staying for? I’m not convinced.

Thanks to a milestone birthday and a new insurance law in Washington state, my health plan recently went up by 33 percent. To shave some money off the premium, I raised my deductible am now shopping around for a new plan, though from what I’ve learned so far, unless I want catastrophic insurance only, this is probably the best deal I’ll get. Still, it’s not enough to send me back to the cube working for an industry that doesn’t thrill me. And if I were to work on staff for an industry that does thrill me — say, social service or the media, as many of my 9-to-5 friends do — unless I landed a government gig, I probably wouldn’t fare much better in the insurance department. I would probably have a partially subsidized plan that costs me a little bit more out of pocket each year.

So what about you? Is the health insurance worth staying in a job you’ve grown to resent — yes or no? As always, inquiring minds want to know.

*Before you write in to say that you love your corporate gig and you’re deeply offended by this post, or that your boss doesn’t work you 80 hours a week at your corporate gig, let me be clear: I’m not saying all corporate gigs are unrewarding, OK? I’m well aware that many people like their jobs.

Entry Filed under: This freelance life, Balance

11 Comments Add your own

1. Rebecca | February 5th, 2008 at 9:13 am

I left a job that had great benefits because I was so miserable. I’m a thousand times happier freelancing even though I make less money and do not have benefits (in the traditional sense of the word). My benefits are more free time, working on projects I enjoy, no commute, and more time with my husband. I wish I had done it sooner!
2. Kuri | February 5th, 2008 at 9:25 am

Yet another reason I’m glad to live in a place where every citizen has basic heath services as a right of citizenship. It’s not too difficult to forgo freebies for a few of the privately insured extras (dental, glasses, etc.) in order to get a better lifestyle. If it was a matter of giving up insurance for life-or-death things, it would be a lot harder to give up the security of the 9-to-5 gigs.
3. annie | February 5th, 2008 at 9:53 am

Love the no-nonsense, slap-upside-the-head style advice all around. My company pays about 75% of costs for a health insurance plan that is about as minimal as it gets…I still owe my hospital about $500 in out of pocket expenses for an allergy test and a contact lens fitting. Would I be paying more if I bought my own insurance? Probably, but so far my 9-5 benefit doesn’t feel like much of a benefit at all. Even with the “security” of corporate-sponsored insurance, I’m reluctant to see another doctor for fear of the bills I’ll receive…
4. boohoo | February 5th, 2008 at 11:02 am

I must say that insurance is the only reason many people work long corporate hours (lets forget about the busy-bees for a moment) I had an unexpected injury last year that I surely could not have paid for without insurance. Before that I had NEVER been to or need a doctors services (excluding dental and simple things like allergy shots) I find that as I get older, I appear to need more medical attention. I think it’s a pickle that everyone alive today in the U.S. is going to have to face. Business in this country has set things up this way on purpose. How else can you get people to willingly work 40+ hours per week? We are supposedly in the greatest era of growth, in regards to individual wealth. In fact if it were not for the health insurance pickle, I think a very large portion of the educated population could live quite comfortably earning money on freelance gigs alone. But companies really do want slaves and the on of the best ways to accomplish this is with the “insurance pickle”

Health insurance is the H-1B visa equivilant for U.S. citizens
5. Michelle Goodman | February 5th, 2008 at 11:36 am

kuri and boohoo, i am holding out hope that the U.S. gets some fairer universal coverage in the next 8 years — that is, if enough people vote Dem.

health insurance being tied to employers is a holdover from post-Depression era days, i believe, and it’s time that changed. especially now that companies offer far less job security and so many entrepreneurs and flex workers live in our midst.

i don’t think everyone would flee the cube in one fell swoop if the insurance problem were solved. there are many people who would rather eat glass than work for themselves without structure and a company to catch their falls. not that there’s anything nothing wrong with that.
6. Izabella | February 5th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

I agree with you completely, Michelle. I recently became a coach just so I can help people drag themselves out of their miserable jobs and see that there is more to life than saving up for retirement and holding on to a company- sponsored health insurance. The hardest part, as always, is the “inner” work - getting people to see that they are making a really bogus trade-off when they choose to stay in an awful job in exchange for health insurance.

But some situations are truly tough. I recently had a conversation with my aunt, who is holding on to a job with an emotionally toxic environment that requires a two-hour commute both ways on the New York City public transportation. She says she can’t leave the job because she’s been diagnosed with latent-stage melanoma. Plus, “just 8 more years,” she says, ” and I will have earned a life-time pension with the company.”

Now, that’s one of those situations that makes my blood boil and makes me want to march out into the streets and start a revolution against insurance companies that hold us hostage to their dubious products - and while I’m at it, bring down the system that doesn’t provide normal pension levels for people who’ve worked hard their entire lives. Realistically though, given the system, what does a person such as my aunt do?

It’s all the more tough as I’m convinced that the toxic work environment and the constant negative emotional background is one of the reasons behind her poor health. Were she to leave the job, or at least scale back on it, her health would probably dramatically improve. But that’s a gamble - one that I’m not prepared to suggest to somebody else, even though it probably would have been my own choice.

I don’t pretend that I have a solution. It’s a very real and a very serious problem, both on the personal and systemic levels. I really want to believe that there are options - for example, exploring whether her company might still offer her health insurance if she scaled back on the hours she works or worked from home part of the time. On the other hand, we’ve all seen “Sicko”…
7. Michelle Goodman | February 5th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

Izabella, wow, your aunt’s situation is tough. With insurance companies’ pre-existing condition requirements as they are, people like her really have their hands tied. I’m sorry to hear it. And again, and hoping like crazy that the election in Nov changes things.

Some less crappy companies give people “shared leave” benefits, where co-workers can donate their unused vacation time to someone with a serious health issue or tricky elder care responsibilities. A neighbor of mine has been going through chemo for breast cancer and thanks to a great job and bunch of co-workers, is able to take off the time she needs to get treated and get healthy again.

I wish your aunt all the best…
8. Izabella | February 5th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Thanks, MIchelle… I do want to believe there are options and will try to convince her of the same… Meanwhile, I look forward to your future entries. I’m a big believer in your message.
9. Nicole Lisa | February 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

My health insurance went up $70/month this year as well due to the Freelancer’s Union changing their plan. While they say it’s a better plan with more doctors, it means I have to find all new doctors again, which I’ve had to do every 3 to 4 years since I’ve been in New York. And that’s another flaw of a health insurance system tied to employment (or broken up into little fiefdoms): that there’s no continuity of care because you keep changing doctors and your records are 3 states behind… and you put off check ups because you have to find another doctor again. (Or at least I do!)

I’m hoping for universal health care as well, Michelle, but really the idea of our gov’t in charge of it gives me the shudders!
10. Smix | February 6th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

Oh, you’ve found the button! I’ll try to contain myself.

The logic of health insurance, especially of catastrophic insurance, seems to me entirely twisted: isn’t the biggest failure of the US health care system the lack of access to primary and preventive care? How are these high-deductible policies supposed to correct for that?

I’ve been described as reckless for not being enticed by high-deductible, “low cost” catastrophic care policies which would cost me three or four thousand dollars a year, and would cover only unusual or severe medical conditions.

However, I’m statistically more likely to see return on that money if I spent it on state lottery tickets. Which behavior is truly illogical?
11. umer insurer | July 21st, 2008 at 1:23 am

9 to 5 jobs are sucks, it is boring and no one is happy with them.
I left my job and now I’m a services provider on internet.

I’m quite happy with it.