This new year, take healthcare benefits seriously when picking your next job

BESIDES the usual New Year’s resolutions to eat less, exercise more and simply live healthier, consider another resolution to improve your well-being: expecting good healthcare benefits from your employer.

When I started work some 13 years ago, I didn’t even think about – much less ask – what health benefits were offered at the company I was joining. My 22-year-old self merely cared about whether it was a permanent position, and what the salary would be, before blithely signing the employment contract.

Two toddlers (and therefore two lifetimes) later, health benefits are the second thing I ask about, right after wrangling an agreeable salary.