Any self employed people here? How do you handle health insurance and got any tips?

[440+6]

I started my first company at 24 years old, I was a general contractor, commecial and light industrial, did have to keep my own insurance as a builder but everybody that worked for me was a independent contractor (sub contractor) who had to keep their own insurance. I would always need a Certificate of Insurance (accord) from everybody that worked for me to make sure they were covered. (Liability. Workmans comp, auto ect) so it wouldn't come back on to me.
I was always named as an additional insured on all their policies before they
walked on my property.
Protect yourself..........

 

[QuickBpBp]

Health care costs were screaming out of control long before The affordable healthcare act came along. Our healthcare costs in the IBEW were doubling every couple of years during the 2000's and we were self insured.

I agree they were creeping up. The Affordable care act magnified it and destroyed it quickly.

 

[4406bbl]

Health care costs were screaming out of control long before The affordable healthcare act came along. Our healthcare costs in the IBEW were doubling every couple of years during the 2000's and we were self insured.

No not really, for the self insured we had choice, we could pick plans that did not have pregnancy coverage, mental health, dental and they were affordable with $1000 deductibles, and I was never denied coverage....ever. Now we have automatic mental health, pregnancy even if you have a hysterectomy, dental, but no body under age 18 can use it, free physical that cost the insurance $1000, it was $ 50-100 under the old plan, free eye test every year, free diet consulting.....for everyone, and we wonder why the price tripled. I can also tell you my father died of cancer under my old plan, the price of coverage went from $8000 a year to $12000, but he never was refused any services, and after he was in the ground they paid every single bill, every penny, over a half million, and the next year the premium dropped back down to $8000. At that time my policy covered 4 adults and 4 children , now 30 k covers 3 adults with high deductible, and I bet they will refuse a lot of services. The old plans were fantastic for us. I know of the cry stories where people were bankrupted back I the day, in every case they missed a payment or had no insurance. The key back then was to have insurance before you were sick and pay the premium no matter what.

 

[4406bbl]

And if you think obama care will protect you now if you get sick and can't pay, I feel sorry for you.

 

[4406bbl]

For the OP, I would go without insurance if you are young and in good health. Get a free physical and a cardio test and wing it, you can sign up every November anyway.

 

[sam dupont]

OP, don't listen to people's opinions, find out for yourself

Health insurance plans & prices | HealthCare.gov

Get health plans and price quotes for your area. See Obamacare health insurance coverage options to save on premiums.

www.healthcare.gov

 

[Sam69sat]

Everyone is getting f'ed by the outrageous insurance and medical industry pricing. I understand those who complain about subsidizing low incomer earners but you're also being subsidized by all the other people paying insurance. If you don't think so then drop your insurance and pay your medical bills directly out of pocket. Woudn't that be fair if everyone had to pay their own way? Just pray you don't have anything serious happen or you'll be poor within a month. It's not fair to the other people in your insurance pool if you pay $25k and you get a hospital bill for 1 million dollars. How can you expect everyone else to pay a higher premium to make up for YOUR bill. Half the country barely takes home $30k after tax. That $2500/month premium just took their entire years paycheck and that doesn't even incude the deductible yet. I don't really have point execpt that both the poor and what's left of the middle class are getting screwed. And i don't mean to sound like a commie because i also hate the thought of subsidies and subsidizing people or corps.

 

[YY1]

It's a very tangled and interdependent web that has, over the past say 75 years or so, caused a moderate malady to financially break for life most middle class wage earners if they don't have insurance.

...and also caused that same insurance to be borderline impossible to afford.

No "do this one thing" simple fix.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Everyone is getting f'ed by the outrageous insurance and medical industry pricing. I understand those who complain about subsidizing low incomer earners but you're also being subsidized by all the other people paying insurance. If you don't think so then drop your insurance and pay your medical bills directly out of pocket. Woudn't that be fair if everyone had to pay their own way? Just pray you don't have anything serious happen or you'll be poor within a month. It's not fair to the other people in your insurance pool if you pay $25k and you get a hospital bill for 1 million dollars. How can you expect everyone else to pay a higher premium to make up for YOUR bill. Half the country barely takes home $30k after tax. That $2500/month premium just took their entire years paycheck and that doesn't even incude the deductible yet. I don't really have point execpt that both the poor and what's left of the middle class are getting screwed. And i don't mean to sound like a commie because i also hate the thought of subsidies and subsidizing people or corps.

the pricing itself needs fixed as many realize. The same procedure that costs $50K in America only runs $8K in other countries with first rate medical care, which is the unfortunate reason some people do travel out of country for medical. The USA needs a medical pricing reset big time.

 

[Roger63]

the pricing itself needs fixed as many realize. The same procedure that costs $50K in America only runs $8K in other countries with first rate medical care, which is the unfortunate reason some people do travel out of country for medical. The USA needs a medical pricing reset big time.

I agree but that opens a whole new can of worms, when I quit O care I opened a medical savings account. When I got sick 2 years ago I thought I was doomed with all the stuff I needed to live. I soon discovered hospitals will negotiate when paying cash. Example, I needed 5 treatments by cyberknife to treat the tumor in my back. List price $242,000 I paid $11,000. Why a $231,000 difference? I don't know maybe someone else can answer that.

 

[OKDart]

It all boils down to greed.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

I agree but that opens a whole new can of worms, when I quit O care I opened a medical savings account. When I got sick 2 years ago I thought I was doomed with all the stuff I needed to live. I soon discovered hospitals will negotiate when paying cash. Example, I needed 5 treatments by cyberknife to treat the tumor in my back. List price $242,000 I paid $11,000. Why a $231,000 difference? I don't know maybe someone else can answer that.

you were able to negotiate a $231K discount and pay cash for cyberknife? How? Where? When? How long did this negotiation take and was the payment before or after the procedure? My brother had cyberknife for a brain tumor at Kaiser northern California and I want to be more informed please.

 

[Roger63]

you were able to negotiate a $231K discount and pay cash for cyberknife? How? Where? When? How long did this negotiation take and was the payment before or after the procedure? My brother had cyberknife for a brain tumor at Kaiser northern California and I want to be more informed please.

Negotiations took about 3 weeks, I was already being treated at Hillcrest hospital in Tulsa Ok. I had no insurance at the time and my oncologist prescribed cyberknife treatment. That's when the negotiations started. I kept refusing there offers till I got it to 11k. And they still made money. Just about any medical facility will negotiate. Oh I had to pay up front.

 

[4406bbl]

The Hospital will always negotiate 50% off. In many cases when someone is in dire need the doctor will do it pro bono....free, and can usually drag a team in with him. Have seen it many times, one extended family member got a procedure done this way, and the drug company covered the $2000 a month drugs for $30 a month. Everyone there is not greedy. When the government gets involved everything turns to crap because they want it unaffordable so they can control it.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

You need health insurance to protect whatever level of assets you own. You do not need health insurance to put a band-aid on every time you cut your finger. These 2 schools of thought are what the insurance companies keep fueling to keep their customer base divided, and they profit. I have ACA mainly because the C, you next Tuesday. That was my health insurance agent made such a stink about ACA that I told her some choice words and needed her to do a job not go on a Karen rant about her politics. Is it a great plan like the one I picked out of a book in the early 2k years, (my cousin worked for insurance co, she said pick one out and let me know) book was about as thick as a NYC phone book with thousands of plans all set up by large corporation's demands.
The crappy ACA plan I have now keeps me from losing everything if I get sick and it pays for most preventative appointments.
I would never discourage a person from trying to be self employed. No matter if you just eek out a living of make millions, it is still better than working for someone else.
ACA program in Pa. Is called Pennie. You also have to watch carriers that on it, I believe some put plans on there that are only there to show their participation and derail the purpose of the program.

 

[Triplegreen500]

Resurrecting this thread....I was going to post one very similar to the OP here (fed up with the day job, time to get out), and this one popped up. Curious how things worked out for the OP?

I have had an LLC for about 10 years now - residential rentals, and my pro audio company (local/regional live music). Trying to get some background/info on carrying my own insurance. Healthy, non-smoker, non-drinker, no chronic issues, no regular meds besides multivitamins and a baby aspirin, active, good BMI, no diabetes...worst I have going is, I wear glasses/contacts. I go to the doc when I can't walk from the pain, and that's about it - I'm not a "omigodIneedabandaidwhere'sadoc" person. Anything not requiring stitches...I'm good on my own.

I will likely keep SOME sort of day gig for now, but I think it may be prudent to just switch to my own insurance, in case I decide to quit working for people who think "customer perception is reality" more than "you need to come to work on time, be there when you are scheduled to be there, do your duties as assigned and explained to you, and if you don't there will be penalties" - because I'm tired of covering for all these lazy bastards who can't come in on time and can't do their jobs correctly. The only time employees get disciplined is when a customer gets a burr up their *** and sends in a cranky survey result. Even if they're unreasonable - or flat out LYING - the employee in question is disciplined. But come in late? Don't show up at all? Don't do paperwork right? Eh, don't worry about it. I'm not here to hold your hand and make you feel safe; I'm here to fix your car. And management fails to understand that cars don't get fixed when employees aren't at work for their shift.

So yea. I think it's about time to go work for myself. I'm handy. I can build, fix, paint, wire, plumb...I can fix n flip houses, or get more rentals going...I can do more concerts and pick up more gigs...it's just ME (sole proprietor), no employees to trash my gear or my company image...

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

Health care is really a nasty subject. I have been self employed for 28 years and have had 3 different company’s. I have been with Blue Cross for 15 years, it is far from inexpensive but I have been very happy with my coverage. I have not had lots of health issues but the ones I have had the coverage has been great. I do know that coverage varies from state to state.
I know this from a previous experience. I had gallbladder surgery and my out of pocket was 15K. When I was at the hospital billing office questioning my bill there was a fella doing the same thing with the same company i had. We were told that coverage varies state to state. They could not tell me the company that pays the best, but she did tell me that if I had the company that started with a color I would probably not have to be here.
I got off cheep, the other guy was as responsible for 60K
Also an update. I said you might want to look into the Affordable Healthcare Act. My best friend was on this and he told me time and a again how much money he saved every year, I admit I was tempted. Ken got really sick and every time he needed a test the insurance company had to approve before the test could be done. Some approvals took 10 days then it took time to schedule the tests. We live 60 minutes from the Mayo Clinic but his insurance would not pay for out of state treatment. After 8 months of battling cancer and waiting for insurance approvals Ken lost the battle.
Not saying the insurance is to blame, but I cant help thinking that the time he lost waiting could things have been different?

 

[68BabyBlue]

Several years ago, one of my self-employed friends finally took a job working for a local towing company. The health insurance was the deciding factor - the small outfit didn't pay especially well, but the health insurance was excellent. One month after this thread was originally posted, his wife was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, basically a death sentence. She started a treatment regimen, based on gene therapy, newly developed, at 50K per session. His insurance covered all of it.

She was a non smoker, no risk factors, her cancer was the result of a freak gene mutation. She has showed no cancer cells in the last nine months. Not surprisingly, my buddy is welded to that company plan at this point, and he was self-employed for the previous 25 years.