Do all the self-employed traders here pay for their own health insurance out of their profits? $500/month (family of three/four) is a HUGE AMOUNT of money to me. Anyone have any idea on how to cut down on the cost of health insurance (without going uninsured of course )
Yeah, health insurance is a big deal. I looked all over the net and found the best deal with celtic insurance. I'm young and single, so I pay $112 a month for a plan with a $1000 deductible but 100% after that. I really just wanted coverage in case of a big health problem. Now I'm not sure about a plan for families, but 500/month seems a bit high for me. If you look around, you might find lower rates, especially if you are willing to have a higher deductible.
I'm meeting with someone next week from the National Association for the Self-Employed. Anyone ever use their health insurance?
Say for example, you had a $1000 deductible and you went to the doctor's office for a sore throat: Is that visit something you pay (and all future visits) until you've paid out $1000 in that year? Just trying to understand, sorry....
Generally, yes. Although most plans will have something called a doctor co-pay, which means you only have to pay x amount for a certain number of routine doctor visits. Also, some plans, like celtic, have a built in per-injury fee, in my case its $500. this means that means for every injury I suffer, the insurance will pay out $500 themselves before I have to start paying out of my deductible. But if you get into a big accident/injury, you most likely end up paying the entire amount of your deductible.
You probably know that a number of these "associations" that offer health insurance are frauds. I'm not certain, but it seems that I ran across NASE in a recent article on bad insurance operators that specialized in the self-employed and small businesses. I wouldn't sign with any company like this that pitches to specific audiences like self-employed without checking with your state authorities. Every state has an insurance commisioner/department that tracks complaints, lawsuits, etc.
In most cases, I will not only have to pay the first $1000 in doctor's visits, but I will have to slap-down the co-payment everytime no matter if I've already hit the $1000 deductible, right? And does that per-injury cover sore throats, the flu etc, or is it reserved for real injuries (broken arms, heart attacks etc) Thanks again, this is helpful!
Even with premiums having gone up 100% in the past 2 years, BLUE CROSS is still the cheapest on their Preferred Provider Plans with a $1,000 deductible for Individuals. Gasoline and Health Care Costs . . . Crippling Us ALL!
Actually, usually the co-pay is all you need to pay for a doctor's visit. I'm not really sure about the specifics of the per-injury stuff, I've never personally used it. I'm not an expert by any means on this stuff since I learned most of it just browsing on the net. Each plan is different and they should have all the specifics listed. Below is a link to one plan for an example. http://www.celtic-net.com/consumer/products/select_ppo_plan.htm