That time of year again....

No, it's not Valentine's Day. It's not taxes either. At our job, February has become the open enrollment period for our company benefits.

So today, I filled out my forms and turned them all in just before the 3 o'clock deadline. This year, a little more paper work was involved since we changed insurance carriers for our health and dental benefits. The bottom line is, the amount I pay for our health, dental, vision and live insurance went up an exactly 3% of what they were last year. Is that a coincidence to the fact that annual pay raises usually average around 3%?

That means that unless I get a very nice raise this year (I doubt it) my paycheck this year will actually be slightly less than they were last year! Does that make sense? Well, maybe it does to someone out there... I'm having a hard time wrapping my little head around that one.

Someone at the meeting actually said, "Thank you, health care reform!" LOL! With insurance rates like this, it makes me wonder about and want to investigate independent brokers like health travel guides to see if the plans they have listed on their site have more to offer than the paltry ones we get every year.