Financial Tips and Considerations regarding SRPE
Here are some financial tips and considerations regarding SRPE.
These notes were written by someone in the United States, and the following details may vary widely based on your location in the world.
Disability
You might consider going on short-term (or, if necessary, long-term) disability while you pursue solutions to your SRPEs.
If nothing else, it’s wise to revisit the details of any disability policy your employer may have for you, or any disability policy you hold individually.
You can crunch the numbers and figure out how much income you would get on your existing disability policies, and if it would not be sufficient for maintaining your current life and standard of living, consider getting a supplemental plan so that if you end up going on disability, your financial situation won’t be as dramatically affected.
They’re usually not that expensive, and if you end up having to go on disability, it can have a massive benefit to your sense of security and the amount of anxiety you deal with.
Furthermore, stress and anxiety seem to be factors that can dramatically impact SRPEs.
And SRPEs themselves introduce tremendous amounts of added stress and insecurity into maintaining full-time work and one’s ability to meet those demands.
Maybe it’s worth giving yourself a break and de-stressing if you can afford to while you sort this out.
And if you can’t afford to do so, look into getting a disability policy now, because there is usually a period of time that must elapse before you are fully eligible for the benefits.
It’s also good to revisit your employer’s HR handbook about disability and medical leave and whatnot, just to have it in mind.
FMLA
This is the Family and Medical Leave Act.
As wikipedia summarizes it, “The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons.”
It basically means that if you qualify, you can leave your job for up to 3 months and your employer is required to hold that position for you for that period of time.
So, going on disability does not necessarily mean that you lose your job. You have to apply and be approved for FMLA, but once you’re approved, all of the legal enforcements for your employer come into play.
Financial Aid
Many public and not-for-profit hospital systems have financial aid programs that you may be eligible for while on disability.
This aid can be quite generous, sometimes paying up to 100% of your medical expenses incurred within their system of providers.
Just google the name of a healthcare/hospital system near you along with the words “financial aid” and you can see if such programs exist.
They usually require a one-page application along with some proof of income information.