Hello Michael,

Thank you for reaching out to Cancer and Careers. It's good to consider the necessary angles prior to making any big decisions. I would recommend assessing your insurance options. Take a look at our Guide to Insurance and begin weighing the options. We also have a recording of our Health Insurance Options webinar that gives an overview the marketplace and lays out some approaches to best understanding your options.

When trying to assess your situation, you will likely have to answer a number of questions. Given a higher salary, does it make more sense to pay out of pocket for your own insurance? Alternatively, compare what the offerings are from similar positions that do provide benefits. Is the salary comparable? Do the benefits make up for any disparity in pay? Decisions like these can involve looking both at the big picture (the title, the experience, etc.) as well as the smaller pieces such as the salary, value of benefits, etc.  If you know that you are going to need long-term care, what might that look like under different plans? What insurance does your current medical provider accept? Are there any smaller private plans that may not be accepted? 

Unfortunately, for many of the questions that are going to arise as you make these decisions, only you will know what is best for you. An important thing to do when trying to decide, is to gather as much information as possible, get it all organized so you are able to evaluate different paths, and ultimately use this information to determine what is the most realistic plan for you moving forward. We have some helpful articles that outline best practices for Getting Organized and Creating an Action Plan.

If you have further questions or would like additional resources, please don't hesitate to reach out to cancerandcareers@cew.org.

Sincerely,
Nicole Jarvis, LMSW

Assistant Director of Programs

Cancer and Careers