Benefits enrollment time… Need an outside perspective on some of these voluntary electives based on my situation.

So I make a generous salary of 154k/year. I'm married, and we have a baby boy on the way, who's projected due date is 12/30. I need an outside perspective, because when I initially went through my enrollments I just chose everything (all voluntary things) because they all sound good, but now I'm realizing I may be wasting money. So here we go…

1.) Health insurance: My current health insurance plan is CareFirst's HDHP with HSA, which costs $1872/year. My individual deductible is $1600 and family is $3200. Out of pocket max is $4k individual and $8k family. There's another health plan I could take with $0 deductibles, but it would cost me $4200/year and I don't get the HSA. Would it be better to keep my current HDHP? My wife and I are healthy people, but do have a baby coming soon.

2.) Dental insurance: Base plan is free, but only offers an annual maximum benefit of $1500. The buy-up plan offer $3000, but costs $11/month. As of now our dental stuff is good and we only have regular cleanings done. In the future I'm thinking I should take this though, because kids usual have a lot of dental work to be done, right?

3.) Voluntary Life/AD&D: So my employer offers us a basic life/AD&D, which is free and covers up to my yearly salary, but I'm on the fence for whether or not I should enroll in this in addition. It will cover an additional 150k and will cost $15/month. My wife will be a stay-at-home-mom with no salary, which is why I'm considering this. What do you all think? Worth it or a waste?

4.) Critical Illness coverage: $18/month for $20k coverage. This gives you a cash payment if you are diagnosed with a covered illness. Neither of us have pre-existing conditions, though. Would this be worth it? I'm leaning towards no at this time.

5.) Voluntary Accident coverage: Cash payment you receive when you suffer an unexpected, qualifying accident. This would cost $26/month for myself and my wife. I'm actually leaning towards taking this. The policy mentions "Seatbelts: $10,000 & Airbags: $15,000". I'm not 100% sure what this means, but if this is saying you'll get $15k if the airbag in your car deploys in an accident, it would seem worth it to me considering how common car accidents are. It also gives hundreds towards emergency dental work (crowns/extractions). But the MAIN thing that interests me is that it says you get $1500 for "hospital admissions", and since my wife will likely be giving birth in early 2024, she will be admitted to the hospital for the birth.

6.) Hospital Indemnity coverage: This costs $36/month and is highly recommended by my employer if you plan on having a baby during the covered year (2024). My wife will most likely be giving birth in 2024, since her due date is 12/30 and this is her first pregnancy (which I've heard are usually later than the due date). This plan offers $1k for hospital admission, and $100/day for hospital confinement. I'm thinking I should take this, even for just this year. What do you all think?

submitted by /u/ICruiseInTheLeftLane
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