Health Insurance for Self-Employed

[notswedish1]

Hello all!

I am stuggling with some issued regarding health insurance.

I am employed in the medical field and have fantastic group coverage through the children's hospital I work for. It is very seductive to have all of these benefits.

Unfortunately, working in this environment is not the best for me. The stress it causes me cannot be good. My kids are both finally in college and I yearn to get to be what I want when I grow up now that I am no longer obsessed with what the kids will be. I am in pretty good health, am dealing with other issues seemingly non MS-related, but in general am mobile, agile and feeling pretty ok.

I am, of course, worried about health insurance. 10 yrs ago I would have said - "to heck with it" and gone for it. But that's not how life goes. I am here and now and am concerned about health insurance.

I would love some pointers on how others have dealt with being self-employed and having/affording health insurance. There is a big part of me that says, go for it and if you ever get very debilitated, you would qualify for Medicaid/Medi-Cal... The other part of me says to not give up my excellent coverage now altho I use it very little for Western medicine stuff but get lots of massages and chiropractic.

Any thoughts? Not looking to get beat up here, but am sincerely wondering what other people have done. I feel like I'm living in fear and not faith. But I also don't want to be impulsive and ignorant.

Thank you!

[Redwings]

It's possible that you might not be able to get health insurance on your own because of your MS. Although health care reform has outlawed exclusions for pre-existing conditions, the Republicans have made it their mission to repeal the health care reform act. Protection for pre-existing conditions could disappear, along with any chances you have of getting private health insurance.

Also, even if you can get health insurance, you might not be able to afford it if your self-employment income isn't good. Self-employed individuals get a break on their federal income tax for health insurance, but you would still need to have the cash flow to pay the premiums.

And that idea of counting on Medi-Cal as a safety net if you become debilitated... not good...

[heliotrope]

Redwings is right... but... that doesn't mean it's not still feasible. The self-employed people I know have often worked for somebody else while running their own business. It guarantees them benefits (your problem here) and a stable income, yet they still get to do what they love. Is that a possibility for you? Could you move to something within your existing corporation with fewer hours that still has benefits? You might be able to "try" being self-employed and still protect what you have.

[Justsayyes]

You could contact an insurance agent and get some quotes as far as what might be available, the cost, and any exclusions of coverage. I think you can get quoted online with some insurance companies.

A friend is self employed with life long asthma. It's covered under her Aetna, but she has a big up front deductable for all medical expenses and so often doesn't get any benefit unless she has something major done. Not sure how high her premium is at this point, maybe $400 a month give or take.....

If I talk with her soon I'll ask for more details.

[newme]

Check around. There should be some insurance that will not exclude you as long as you keep continual coverage. This might mean you need to use the COBRA benefit, which is very expensive.

I found that the Blues or other non-profit insurance is easier for us pre-existing folks to deal with. They will often have a plan that works.

When you are shopping around, consider everything (drug coverage, annual physical, hospitalization cost, availability of treatment - such as infusions, deductibles, etc).

It is a tough decision to make. My hubby is self-employed and when I had to leave work we spent months looking into this. I am hopeful that the health care reform measure will be a help to folks like us! Good Luck!!!

[Kara10]

I was originally employed by a corporation. When I returned to school full time, I bought COBRA.

Afterwards, I was self employed for 7 years. I was in the medical field. I joined the professional association and purchased group coverage through them.

When I could no longer do this job, I purchased COBRA while awaiting Medicare.

My understanding is that as long as you do not go even one single day without coverage, pre-existing exclusions do not apply. If you let coverage lapse for as little as one day, pre-existing exclusions may apply.

When you leave your present employment, you will probably have to COBRA until you can find other coverage.