Comments on: Where to find affordable health insurance for the self-employed

By: Bear

Bear — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:01:17 +0000

Short, sweet, to the point, FREE-exactly as infrmotaion should be!

By: sally beauty supply hours

sally beauty supply hours — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:47:27 +0000

I have realized that of all types of insurance, health insurance is the most debatable because of the issue between the insurance cover company’s need to remain profitable and the consumer’s need to have insurance policy. Insurance companies’ profits on health and fitness plans are low, thus some companies struggle to gain profits. Thanks for the ideas you talk about through this web site.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:37:29 +0000

Just a thought about maternity care: I have two children, one of which I delivered in an out of hospital birth center and paid for with an expensive plan through my husband’s employer. The premiums were outrageous and I still had to pay a portion of the bill. My second was supposed to be born in a similar birth center, but because of complications was born in a hospital. At the time I had a high deductible plan (because the employee plan got too pricey with kids) with no maternity. We paid the midwife and all routine birth costs out of pocket from our HSA, and, after the hefty deductible, the insurance company picked up the rest (the cost of the “complications”).
Now, I had to do a LOT of homework, double-checking, and phone wrangling to get it all sorted out, and I still could have bought a new car with the money we spent, but the insurance plan ended up saving us many thousands of dollars on that hospital stay, even though we had no maternity coverage. And here is why: first, we got insurance rates on everything, second, we didn’t have to pay taxes on the money we saved in our HSA, third, all of the “complications”–after the large deductible, and I kept records and made phone calls about all this–were covered. I’ve had friends who have also bargained with the hospital and gotten reduced rates in return for paying cash up front (another benefit of having the money saved in an HSA). Also, from what I understand, in Florida at least, all insurance plans must cover well-child visits and immunizations 100%. So all those first year visits and shots were covered. And that adds up.
We plan to have another baby soon, and we will probably go the same way again: cheaper pre-natal care with a midwife and pay for the birth from our HSA. Sure, it’s still a lot of money, but in my experience, no one but the government is going to pay for you to have a baby. The best you can do is pay attention and insist on making your own decisions about your health care, including knowing what things cost up front, making sure you are billed correctly, and understanding your insurance company’s policies.
By the way. thanks for the info on Medi-share. I have been looking into it as an alternative to handing my money over to the insurance industry, but I haven’t felt great about it, either, for some reason. Your readers’ comments have given me some good information to ponder…

By: Susan Marie Cibelli

Susan Marie Cibelli — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:35:59 +0000

HEALTHY NY – It is the biggest secret in health insurance and I’m not certain why. As a small S-Corp I h ave been able to have awesome coverage and offer it to my employees for under 300.00 a month, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield. It is a NYS government program for people who employ uder 50 people, it covers everything except psychiatric. I’ve had it for years!

By: Sherry

Sherry — Sun, 09 May 2010 02:18:52 +0000

I’m in the same self-employed conundrum, with the exception of having a pre-existing medical condition that is now well-controlled with some inexpensive meds. I was fully prepared to have this condition excluded from coverage… what I was not prepared for was to be rejected for coverage completely. I am actually a very healthy person!

I will say I love e-healthinsurance, too! They are very convenient and are easy to compare plans. I have also received good advice when I called the 800 number. I have purchased short-term insurance from them, but have not yet found a policy that works for me for long-term because of my “condition.”

My one caution to everyone about any of these current insurance plans is to look very carefully at the policies and benefits. For example, I found many of the lower cost plans say they provide $3 million in lifetime benefits, which sounds great if you end up in a coma or needing very intensive care such as for paraplegia. Look closer though, and you see there is a $50,000 per year limit which would be blown through pretty quickly given this situation. There were plenty of other less dramatic examples, but all left me feeling pretty disappointed with the small-print games these insurance companies are playing. I am also a provider of therapy services, and I see many occasions of clients thinking they have coverage but their fine print limits it to only a few diagnoses, such as speech therapy only for stroke patients but not children.

Although I have looked into insurance a lot, I still feel very stuck. The time it takes to unravel this maze is incredible! I just recently applied to Medi-Share and was accepted, but am not fully comfortable with getting started with them (that discernment thing?). Now that I read about “shares” taking two years to get paid, it’s making me a little more leery. I guess I’ll have to jump back in to research regular insurance again

By: Gayle

Gayle — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:51:28 +0000

With the passage of the health care bill, this article becomes even more timely! Thanks for your blog and all the pertinent topics you discuss.

By: daveinphilly

daveinphilly — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:57:17 +0000

Don’t forget to get a quote from your local Blue Cross-Blue Shield as well. Here in the suburbs of Philly, they are very competitive and after using ehealthinsurance.com, I think I’m going to stick with my current traditional indemnity plan that I have with them. Deductibles are much less but the premiums are higher. But you don’t have any sort of gatekeeper to see a specialist. A trade-off. It’s hard to compare exact apples-to-apples. Although the HSA idea is attractive from a tax angle, I think it is best to wait and see if the HSA’s survive in Washington health reform.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:32:31 +0000

Congratulations on your wife coming home to help you with your business – how exciting!

My wife and I recently did a search for individual health insurance as well and ended up getting a high deductible plan we found via eHealthInsurance.com. Overall, I was pleased with the experience and we purchased the plan. (Actually wrote about it a couple days before your wrote this; feel free to check out my thoughts on purchasing self-employed health insurance and other tips).

One thing to look out for regarding individual health care plans – most do not include maternity care as a base option, it needs to be purchased as an add on. Some plans also have a waiting period for maternity care from the time you sign up (9 months or longer), so be sure to read the plan details before buying, and be sure to plan accordingly. If you are already expecting or want to do so soon, then consider COBRA benefits.

An added benefit – many high deductible plans offer provisions for preventive care, and our plan covers all annual checkups and baby well visits with no out of pocket expenses to us. Your plan may vary.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions about our plan or other details.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:05:32 +0000

You should check out HealthNet for people needing coverage in the Western states. (They just sold their NE operations to UnitedHealthcare) They are one of the few for-profit companies that offer coverage to veterans and military familes through an option called Tricare. Go to http://www.healthnet.com

By: Kevin@OutOfYourRut

Kevin@OutOfYourRut — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:41:59 +0000

We’re in the same boat on health insurance. My wife also “retired”–involuntarily–and she had the coverage. We’re investigating as well, so no hard answers will be coming from our well!

On babies, most of what you’re doing with them is bringing them to the doctor all the time, so you can still look into a plan with high deductibles if it provides coverage for a sufficient number of Dr. visits. Some will cover five or six or more, regardless of deductible.

A lot (most?) of health plans will not cover maternity!!! (!!!) The ones that do usually have a waiting period, typically two years. But even having a plan without maternity may allow you to receive the plan discount, which can be huge. Our son had surgery in the fall, and 2/3 of the bill was discounted under the health insurance plan.