Calling all you self employed or independent contracting peeps:
Where do you get your health insurance, what do you do about high costs and low quality?
I am thinking of going back to being an independent contractor after 2 years of working as a salaried employee. When I was a contractor before I filed a business certificate as a sole proprietor and I obtained my health insurance through an agency that put sole proprietors/small business owners together to get group rates. It was OK insurance, not the best, not the worst - and it only cost about $180/month.
Just wondering what others do.
Also, can anyone recommend a good book about setting up as self employed/sole proprietor? When I did it the first time I made a lot of mistakes, due to inexperience, limited planning, etc… I want to go in as prepared as possible and plan on sitting down with an accountant/business advisor before making the decision to do this but would like to read up on my own too.
THANKS A MILLION!
You have to hook up with some kind of larger group. We get ours through the Cal State (college) Alumni Association. By joining their group for like $50/yr. we get to be part of thier group insurance plan. Blue Shield Preferred PPO. Haven’t found anyone cheaper.
Here in NC I get a 100/0 250 Deduct Policy for $227.00 per month from BCBS. I have looked at others and they are about the same. I am 44 and get the “healthy” rate which is a 15% discount. Who says training does not pay : ). I would say search the net and I bet you will find plenty of groups to join.
I know many people who buy their own insurance and get only catastrophic…
and I know others (me as well) who did what someone above just recommended: joined a group/association and bought into their group plan. You can do this with many types of groups. I had one with "The Cultural Alliance of Washington " many years ago.
There are alot of insurance companies out there that offer coverage for singles. BCBS happens to be my personal favorite as over the past 15 years they have been the easiest to work with of about 8 companies we’ve tried.
Obviously price will be determined by what you want.
As others have mentioned, it is much easier these days to get insurance as a sole practitioner, although the coverage and rates are not great. Luckily for me, my wife had a salaried position when I was starting out so we used her insurance.
You are smart to talk to others before starting. My accountant turned out to be one of our best overall business advisors and he saved us lots of time and aggravation. One bit of advice I will give you is to get a line of credit while you are a salaried employee. Banks like people with W-2s, not sole practitioners. Typical: when you are just starting out and need them most, banks don’t want to deal with you. When you are well-established and don’t need them, they are all over you to try and get business.
PM me if you want to talk about any of this. I went solo about 6 years ago, and grew a consulting firm to five people. Along the way, I made a lot of mistakes and learned much.
as an agent i would say, if you can get in with an association or group, do it. otherwise you will get hit with the high cost of individual coverage. i pay about 400/mo for my family. (two kids) i go for a ppo with a high deductible.
seriously, if you’re in ca and have any questions, feel free to drop me a pm and ill get you my phone number. see if i don’t know any local agents that would be good for you.
