Paying for health insurance while furloughed, complex situation. Please help!

29 y/o F from MA here looking for help with a complicated situation. Please bare with me while I explain…

  • In March 2020 I was furloughed from my job as a PTA. I began collecting unemployment for a few weeks.

  • at the end of April my boss had applied for a PPP loan and received it. So I worked from home for 8 weeks. Doing various projects for the office from home and doing continuing Ed courses virtually.

-HR emailed me informing me they were taking out my contribution of my health insurance premium from my work from home checks (I pay $120 a month) from the previous weeks of being furloughed.

  • when this loan was up, my work asked everyone individually how they were feeling about coming back to gauge where everyone was personally. For me, I had previously had lung cancer and underwent a lobectomy. So with covid being something that really affects the lungs I was more at risk, and hesitant to return. They completely understood and agreed I’d be probably the last to return. This was fine because since business was slow they didn’t have enough work for everyone. I went back on unemployment.

  • At the end of august I had a follow up scan for my lung. They found breast cancer. The day after I got results of my biopsy, confirming it .. my boss called me. He asked for an update on how I felt about coming back, and I told him the bad news. He told me to keep him in the loop about what I’d be going through with treatment.

  • I found out I would need Neoadjuvant chemo to shrink my cancer before I had surgery for about 3.5 months. And everything was on the table to treat it (my plan was chemo, then surgery, then radiation).

  • I asked my HR person at my job what this meant for my unemployment status, since they always ask if you’re “available” and “able” to work. She said to continue to answer the questions as I had been and that we would continue to consider me as furloughed. There was no expectation for me to come back to work while I was going through chemo because again, this put me in an even more at risk position to get covid and have complications.

  • I will say I understand that during this period of time I should’ve been paying the $120/month while continuing as furloughed. My mind was elsewhere obviously on all my health bullshit, I completely forgot about it since I’m used to it just being taken from my check. My HR person never reached out to me about this.

-Finished chemo on Jan 11th. And my oncologist says I need to wait 4-6 weeks until my body is recovered enough to have surgery. Scheduled surgery for feb 25th.

-At some point unemployment pay ran out and it switched to pandemic pay. From my account it seems like I only have this week and next week left to request benefits.

-I don’t know what happens after that. So I was looking into short term disability which I had previously been on for my lung surgery recovery. Found out that this had been replaced with Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) which is paid by the state. So I decided to email HR and ask if applying for this would be the next appropriate step. I did not hear back from her.

  • My boss calls me. Says yes, he thinks PFML seems fitting for my situation (medical leave to care for yourself when dealing with a serious medical condition) and I should apply. Worst that can happen is I get denied. But another thing he mentioned was that he had been paying for my health insurance over the last few months (since July maybe?) and that he wants me to write up something that says I will pay him back for this. He said he had been paying it as to not interrupt my care as it’s obviously extremely important for me to remain on health insurance. Makes sense, and sounded like he was doing me a favor. But then he says a non employee is expected to pay the full amount, he estimates about $500/month…

Soooo with that all being said, I was taken off guard and didn’t really know what to say. I kind of agreed that I would do this, but after I got off the phone began trying to research. From what I’ve read, it seems like employers typically still pay their portion of the health insurance for furloughed employees but the the time limit of how long they will do this for is the blurry part. I definitely know I am at least responsible for my portion, the $120/month for the last ~8 months, I have no issue paying this back. But I feel like I am being fucked over for being expected to pay the full premium for the last 8 months without us ever having a conversation about it and agreeing to it. If I was told 8 months ago that I would need to pay the full premium, I would’ve looked into other options for cheaper health insurance (mass health, where I probably wouldn’t have to pay for at all monthly)

I’d be fine with paying the $120 a month back, and even from now on moving forward $500 a month until I am recovered from surgery/radiation since we actually had a conversation about it. But saying this without burning the bridge seems difficult. I’d like to be able to return to work when my treatment is done and I have been vaccinated from covid (if ok’d from my drs) and not have the stress of trying to find a new job…

I’d love to hear some opinions. 😣 $4000+ dollars is a lot to just hand over when I’m dealing with medical bills and surviving off of less pay. Not to mention I don’t want to fuck with my health insurance now that I have major surgery coming up in 2 weeks.

TLDR: my boss said he has been paying my health insurance since I’ve been furloughed from my job (due to covid and cancer treatment). He now is telling me I need to pay back $500/month, even though we never had a conversation about me having to pay for the full premium cost.

submitted by /u/shadow-wolf37
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29 y/o F from MA here looking for help with a complicated situation. Please bare with me while I explain…
In March 2020 I was furloughed from my job as a PTA. I began collecting unemployment for a few weeks. at the end of April my boss had applied for a PPP loan and received it. So I worked from home for 8 weeks. Doing various projects for the office from home and doing continuing Ed courses virtually.
-HR emailed me informing me they were taking out my contribution of my health insurance premium from my work from home checks (I pay $120 a month) from the previous weeks of being furloughed.
when this loan was up, my work asked everyone individually how they were feeling about coming back to gauge where everyone was personally. For me, I had previously had lung cancer and underwent a lobectomy. So with covid being something that really affects the lungs I was more at risk, and hesitant to return. They completely understood and agreed I’d be probably the last to return. This was fine because since business was slow they didn’t have enough work for everyone. I went back on unemployment. At the end of august I had a follow up scan for my lung. They found breast cancer. The day after I got results of my biopsy, confirming it .. my boss called me. He asked for an update on how I felt about coming back, and I told him the bad news. He told me to keep him in the loop about what I’d be going through with treatment. I found out I would need Neoadjuvant chemo to shrink my cancer before I had surgery for about 3.5 months. And everything was on the table to treat it (my plan was chemo, then surgery, then radiation). I asked my HR person at my job what this meant for my unemployment status, since they always ask if you’re “available” and “able” to work. She said to continue to answer the questions as I had been and that we would continue to consider me as furloughed. There was no expectation for me to come back to work while I was going through chemo because again, this put me in an even more at risk position to get covid and have complications. I will say I understand that during this period of time I should’ve been paying the $120/month while continuing as furloughed. My mind was elsewhere obviously on all my health bullshit, I completely forgot about it since I’m used to it just being taken from my check. My HR person never reached out to me about this.
-Finished chemo on Jan 11th. And my oncologist says I need to wait 4-6 weeks until my body is recovered enough to have surgery. Scheduled surgery for feb 25th. -At some point unemployment pay ran out and it switched to pandemic pay. From my account it seems like I only have this week and next week left to request benefits. -I don’t know what happens after that. So I was looking into short term disability which I had previously been on for my lung surgery recovery. Found out that this had been replaced with Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) which is paid by the state. So I decided to email HR and ask if applying for this would be the next appropriate step. I did not hear back from her.
My boss calls me. Says yes, he thinks PFML seems fitting for my situation (medical leave to care for yourself when dealing with a serious medical condition) and I should apply. Worst that can happen is I get denied. But another thing he mentioned was that he had been paying for my health insurance over the last few months (since July maybe?) and that he wants me to write up something that says I will pay him back for this. He said he had been paying it as to not interrupt my care as it’s obviously extremely important for me to remain on health insurance. Makes sense, and sounded like he was doing me a favor. But then he says a non employee is expected to pay the full amount, he estimates about $500/month…
Soooo with that all being said, I was taken off guard and didn’t really know what to say. I kind of agreed that I would do this, but after I got off the phone began trying to research. From what I’ve read, it seems like employers typically still pay their portion of the health insurance for furloughed employees but the the time limit of how long they will do this for is the blurry part. I definitely know I am at least responsible for my portion, the $120/month for the last ~8 months, I have no issue paying this back. But I feel like I am being fucked over for being expected to pay the full premium for the last 8 months without us ever having a conversation about it and agreeing to it. If I was told 8 months ago that I would need to pay the full premium, I would’ve looked into other options for cheaper health insurance (mass health, where I probably wouldn’t have to pay for at all monthly) I’d be fine with paying the $120 a month back, and even from now on moving forward $500 a month until I am recovered from surgery/radiation since we actually had a conversation about it. But saying this without burning the bridge seems difficult. I’d like to be able to return to work when my treatment is done and I have been vaccinated from covid (if ok’d from my drs) and not have the stress of trying to find a new job… I’d love to hear some opinions. 😣 $4000+ dollars is a lot to just hand over when I’m dealing with medical bills and surviving off of less pay. Not to mention I don’t want to fuck with my health insurance now that I have major surgery coming up in 2 weeks. TLDR: my boss said he has been paying my health insurance since I’ve been furloughed from my job (due to covid and cancer treatment). He now is telling me I need to pay back $500/month, even though we never had a conversation about me having to pay for the full premium cost.
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