Self - Employed - Self Health Insurance ??? Where?

For those of you who are self employed - where did you find you best deal on self health insurance?

There are so many online - that I thought maybe a few of you here may have some information for me

Beth

What's "health insurance?"

You know it pays for you to have tests done and go to the hospital and such ?

I hope your just being silly lol

Beth

It sounds like this topic deserves a lot of research. What country do you live in?

Sorry, I forgot to put the "tongue in cheek" for you.

:P

gamiziuk lol thanks

I live in the USA.

I am referring to bluecross/blueshield etc etc health insurance company's and wondering who has what and what is the best and cheapest lol

Beth

Try [link] the National Association for the Self Employed as a starting point.

I would try the link given by ClickIt... I have my health insurance through the NASE and have been happy with it.


Dave

Thank you I will check it out

Beth

Almost a year later and I am bringing this topic back up - hoping that someone has some more ( different )information for me.

Beth

It would help to know which ones you investigated and why none of them were what you needed.

blue cross blue shield - united - oh my - so many other ones - cheapest I can find is over 600.00 a month...for very basic coverage.

Ouch. That's quite a bite.

A number of professional, fraternal, and social organizations offer their members group-rate insurance coverage.

It might be worth some research time to see if any you belong to or would be eligible to join could offer you something more reasonable.

Maybe a HSA (tax advantaged Health Savings Account) would work for you. Speak with a Financial Services/Insurance Agent for more info. (That is, you need to speak to a Full Service Agent; going to some online company wont do you any good at all.)

beth_lk, $600 a month for very basic coverage sounds high. I pay $835 for 3 months for both me and my wife with deductible $500 individual / $1,000 family, Coinsurance 20%, Out-of-Pocket Limit $2,500 individual / $5,000 family, Lifetime Maximum $3 Million per covered person. Unless you have some current or recent serious health issues, that's pretty high. Of course I do not know your circumstances. Everyone will get a different rate depending on your age, current and past health status, weight, whether or not you smoke.

I located mine on [link] . I also checked with Consumers Reports to ensure they had at least a satisfactory rating. When you find insurance, check them with Consumer Reports. They rate the midsized to big insurances providers. They don't have everyone rated, but it's a start to get to know what's out there. The articles also provide guidelines on how to look for insurance.

I currently use Golden Rule. Another very good insurance that rated highly in Consumer Reports was CeltiCare.

Even if you are self employed, you should be able to obtain insurance and benefits through your own business.

With some Health Insurance Co.s, a Group Health Ins. policy can be as small as 3 people (and only 2 of them have to accept the policy!) to make it work.

There are tax advantages to paying for insurance through your business. You can 'executive bonus' yourself, take a biz and personal tax break, and if that bonus happens to be the exact amount of your Health Insurance policy, then all the better, right?

And, depending on which Financial Service Co. you work with, you can get discounts (say, 5% off your monthly premium) on your Health Ins policy.

Good luck trying to get everything sorted out by yourself. Maybe you can find the 6-8 online companies you'll need to get your all of your financial stuff truely well covered. (Health, Life, Disability, Biz Property, Biz Liability, Exec bonus, HSA, Retirement, Personal Property, tax advantages...) But then you may very well have gaps in your financial plan. (Oppsie, sorry honey! We missed it. No Disability coverage for you! Don't give me that "recovering from child birth" line. We need the income, get back to work now!) Maybe, just maybe, you'll get brilliant coverage and all the available benefits online.

Personally, I make time to have an inteligent conversation with a pro not less than once a year. (And I bring my estate plan and will along to make sure everything is truely coordinated and complete. Why go to probate and give the government a huge chunk of my estate for no good reason?! It just takes a bit of planning on my part.) Is this a fun conversation? Not really. It is, however, a hugely usefull - and frankly, valuable - conversation.

Are there some good online companies? Yes. But it also makes good sense to hire someone who does this all day, every day, to sort it all out for me. I get better coverage at a good price. And like I said, there are definate, specific, cost, tax and coverage benefits that I get by working with a pro.

I have a specific, country wide, A rated Financial Services Co. in mind; PM me if you would like me to name the company.

Well, I myself was in the same boat a couple years ago .. paying over $800.00 a month to insure both my wife and myself with minimum coverage. I'm sure that has gone up since then. Now I live in Costa Rica, where my wife and I get top-notch coverage for about $150/month

wow vglass! That's really a good price. What health insurance company insures you?

Unfortunately for us Americans your insurance might only be available to you via Costa Rica. For the Americans, we pay more.

Hi Curt,

Unfortunately at this rate it is only available in Costa Rica. The cost of health care services and prescriptions in general are MUCH cheaper here. For example, where in the states I have to get a prescription for just about anything, here I can just go to the pharmacy, or give them a call and they will deliver the meds to my house. Also, for about $35, I can have the doctor come to my house v.s. having to make an appt., wait in long lines etc. It's for these reasons and others that we can get such a good price as the insurance companies don't pay nearly as much for services here.

I was talking to a person around here (Illinois, USA) that was born in Guatemala. He was telling me that a person making $100,000/year there could live like a king in that country. Of course I don't know what the downsides are of choosing to move to Central America. Cheap health insurance is certainly a plus.