401K HARDSHIP

Hi Everybody, I've been to my weight loss seminar, I all ready for WLS now how will I pay for it. My insurance(BCBS) has a exclusion for WLS. I talked with the insurance coordinator at Baptist Metobolic Surgery Center who assured me there was no need in filing an apeal. I talked with my H.R. person at work about WLS she has told me we will restructure our insurance next year. She should know something by late October. In the mean time I have been checking with my 401K administrator about taking a hardship withdrawal on my retirement savings. They have been giving me a major run around. They have requested documentation. Has anyone else used there 401K for WLS and was it this much trouble. Thanks, Steve

Yes, I just took a hardship from mine in order to pay for my surgery. UHC had an exclusion and I needed a revision from a staple line infection (they covered the RNY). It was not very difficult but it is up to the company to approve the withdrawal. Good Luck, Terry B

Have you considered "borrowing" from your 401 account? A lot of companies allow you to borrow from yourself and it is repayed through payroll deduction to yourself with interest. You will avoid any penalities or taxes if you can do this. I hope this helps.

Hi christi. that is interesting. borrowing from yout 401K,once we borrowed from our family insurance plan to build a garage ,and the interest rate was lower than the bank but ... the insurance co. kept the interest ..it did dot go back into our plan, we paid it off as quickly as possible when we relaized they were charging us interest on OUR OWN MONEY! of course we needed the money so I guess it was still the best way to go. so check out everything carefully and make wise decisions Arianna

Yes, Arianna, it's something that you should be sure of, but we have "borrowed" from ourselves before and the interest (prevailing rate) is payed back to ourselves. The money you borrow is really "your money" if you are vested in it. The beauty of borrowing from yourself (401K vested amount) is that all interest goes back to you in your own account. It's worth checking into, hope it helps!