Health Insurance for the Self-Employed—A Guide

Health insurance for the self-employed is a major concern for anyone who works for themselves. These days, heath insurance is hard enough to get through an employer.  Premiums are expensive, and getting more so all the time, and employers are reducing and even eliminating their contributions to cut costs. If you’re self-employed, things just keep getting more expensive, as you have to pay full price for a policy. Depending on the policy you get, that could mean $1,000 a month or more out of your pocket.

The most expensive policies of health insurance for the self-employed are those from traditional, well-known insurance carriers, such as Cigna, Blue Cross, and Aetna. However, these are also the policies that are likely to have the best coverage and the most benefits available to policy holders. Unfortunately, these big-name companies know that people are likely to pay more for the security that comes with a well-known name. After all, you can be pretty sure that these companies won’t be here today and gone tomorrow. To cover you, a spouse, and children, however, is going to cost you a lot, maybe even more than your house payment.

Lesser known policies that are designed for the self-employed are more cost effective, for the most part. You can often cover an entire family for less than $500 a month with many of these. However, co-pays and deductibles may be higher than with traditional companies, your in-network physicians list may be smaller, and the benefits offered may be scanty. You can expect a lot more out-of pocket expenses with these policies.

When it comes to health insurance for the self-employed, the choice is really yours. If you shop around, you may very well find a good company with optimal coverage at a reasonable price. After all, insurance policies and prices are changing all the time. The important thing is to get some kind of policy, because having some coverage is better than having none at all. If you don’t have it, you’ll wish you did the very first time you have to go to a doctor without coverage.

This is the fifth installment in our health insurance series. Be sure to check back for updates…

Filed under: Health Insurance

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