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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Benefits Blunder

Well, I received my benefits card last week. I was pretty excited about it. That reminds me... I have to rebill my last prescription. Anyway.. I was pretty happy to finally have benefits again. Then I saw my pay stub. WTF!>!

I have never in my working life paid more than maybe $15 per cheque for benefits. The deductions on my stub were about $160. I was shocked and immediately angry. Luckily my boss was working with me that day so while we were huddled in the blister area scarfing down some lunch I asked him about it. He told me it seemed really high and that he didn't blame me for being upset as he knows I'm trying to save for the trip. He told me to book all my dental and medical appointments during the next two months and then cancel if I'm not happy and don't get my moneys worth. He told me even if I'm told I have to have them he would deal with it. I like my boss! :)

The next day I was able to talk to payroll who is the nicest lady ever. First I asked her if the deductions looked realistic and she told me because she had to back date my benefits a bit that it would be on my next cheque as well. WHAT!>! She really is a sweet lady so I kept my bubbling anger down and looked her straight in the eye and said "well then I can't afford it". She broke down the amounts as there were four different deductions. Thats where we found the problem. My work takes automatic deductions for MSP. I don't pay MSP right now and BF has paid his way in advance. Anyway, even if I was paying MSP it wouldn't be the top amount because of my income. She apologized and said she forgot I told her that. Whew~~

So next cheque I should be getting a large chunk of that money back. The MSP alone was $96 and then there was another fee that I believe was about $30 that I will get back. Holy toledo's! So the actual extended health and dental is more like $30 a month which I can handle and don't mind paying so BF and I can benefits.

In the future if BF or I get notification to pay MSP I'm just going to pay them directly. I don't need a middle man for that. I'm so glad this worked out because I really didn't want to forgo benefits.

4 comments:

The Asian Pear said...

it's a good thing that that was cleared up.

side note... what does MSP stand for? o__o?

Laura said...

What's MSP?

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com said...

PHEW! It's great to get that sorted out but I am not sure I would have been as calm :)

Dolly Iris said...

MSP = Medical Service Plan. It's only in BC. Everyone pays into it based on income. I think it started when I was about 19 if I remember correctly. If you make below a certain amount you don't pay at all. I was on medical EI for awhile last year so I haven't been paying for the last few months.