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OT - Self Employed Health Insurance, Any Opinions

K

Kirk Grau

Member
OK, I expect quite a few of you are self employed as am I. Looking at expenditures and thinking about shopping our health insurance a little bit. Any suggestions on plans/companies you like? I have no real problems or allegiance to my current company. Like most insurance it just seems like costs are awfully high for as little as we use it. Of course, if we needed it I would be glad we have it. Just hate insurance.

Anyway, thanks for any and all thoughts. Can usually get quite a few good thoughts here.

Kirk
 
If you find out anything really interesting, please let me know. I am in that spot also. Farm Bureau has a program. The National Asociation of Realtors has a plan.
 
We're both age 60, deductible 5000 each, premium 6000/yr. Blue Cross- Blue Shield, no frills, no glasses no dental
 
I've got Humana. A very basic $5000 deductible with a $25 co pay on Dr visits. My wife and I are both over 50 and I still have 1 son on the plan. It's $249 a month, I've never had a claim so I don't know how well they pay.
 
try ehealhinsurance.com

You fill out one online form and it will give you quotes from a myriad of decent companies with many options for each. It is specific to your area and situation.

That is how I found my health insurance, and I have been very happy with it.
 
National Association of the Self Employed worked for me though I didn't test the insurance, just paid fairly reasonable premiums until I became eligible for medicare.

Gerald J.
 
i found that the nase( national assoc for the self employed & mega health and life are a joke. basically unless you are perfectly healthy they wont accept you.
 
Before I had the neck surgery last winter, I didn't really know much about how health insurance works, so I really got an education when the bills came pouring in. After going over the bills the thing that really struck me was how much the insurance company negotiated the bills down. One bill that was in the $32,000 range was negotiated down to somewhere in the $8,000 range. Yes, it's true! I'm just going off the top of my head without looking up the bill. Talked to my insurance rep about this and gleaning from what he said I got the idea that if I paid the bill in cash I would pay the whole $32,000. IF this is really the case, and I say "IF", the $24,000 saved on just this one bill would pay the pemium for four years. Jim
 
Just noticed this. For my insurance company, it looks like the cost would be lower if I would have applied directly online instead of going though my agent.
 
I collected child support for my son, and his mother had to carry health insurance.

Pharmacy that I got his prescriptions from had computer problems so I handed the pharmist 4--$100.00 dollar bills (on a Sunday). He charged me close to sixty dollars more than what he entered on his computer for Blue Cross / Blue Shield. I called the mistake to his attention, he said when he sells to insurance companies he doesn't make much profit, and was not a mistake. I told him Blue Cross would not pay me the additional $60.00. He basicly said tough Luck. I reminded him I did not wait 30 days, paid cash, no bad check, and it was his computer causing me a $60.00 extra fee.

Well that problem with him was the last time he made a dime off me, and I blab to everyone, so I'm pretty sure he is out more than the $60.00 he got out of my pocket. If I had it to do over again I probably would have did the small claims court, beter busines bureau etc. I'm a very generous guy but a very sorry looser.
 
I've got Humana, my significant other has Blue Cross. Mines better (my dr visits and pharmacy is about half what hers is but she gets vision and dental) but mine costs about 200 a month more.
 
It's the little stuff that will eat you up. Like office visits for monitering.

For MAJOR problems you can walk into most any emergency room and get care because they can't refuse treatment. Plus there are free clinics around.
 
You can thank all those people that write bad checks or don't bother to pay at all for their prescriptions. Any business man would charge one rate for customers they know will pay and another for customers that might pay.
 
If you're in good health, you might want to check into something called a HSA (Health Savings Account). Basically, it's a setup where you save X number of dollars each year (tax deductible) and buy a high deductible major medical policy as part of your monthly contribution. Over time, you will have your deductible available in your savings account and not have to hit your personal funds to take up the slack. The only hitch is that the money can only be used for medical purposes. I'm no expert, but Dave Ramsey and other experts say it's the way to go for self-employed folks.
Good Luck and God Bless.
 
Yes, Health Savings Account is the way to go. I'm self employed, wife works for a dentist and they have health insurance, so I was on hers for years. Looked into HSA, wound up with $2,500 deductible plan, and the premium was so much cheaper that I could fund my own deductible to boot, for less than I would have spent on just the premiums on hers. And the beauty of it is, the money you put in the HSA is your money, and what you don't use will be there for the future. You can put in an amount equal to your deductible every year. And its tax free going in, and tax free coming out (so its actually a better deal than an IRA). You can use the money for any health item- right down to toothpaste and bandaids, if you want. It ends when you go on Medicare, and the guy I talked to said I should have 10 grand or so in it by then, so I could use that money for stuff medicare doesn't cover until its gone, thereby postponing when I would have to get supplemental insurance (Part B or D or whatever).
 
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