self-employed health insurance

[spurschick]

Any of you self-employed folk have advice for securing a decent health insurance plan?

[MannyIsGod]

If i were you I'd focus on getting something that doesn't cover doctors visits and puts more emphasis on major medical expenses such as hospitalization. You end up paying far more for plan that covers doctors visits than you do for the actual doctors visits in the long run unless you're best friends with your doctor and are there all the time. Lab costs can suck, so if you can get something of that sort factored in then all the better.

Other than that, just shop around. Find an agent that is willing to look out for you and let them do the leg work for finding you a plan but a lot of times you're able to check plan options online now so make sure they're actually looking out for what you asked for and not tacking on extra shit so they can make more money off of you.

[Shelly]

M, My husband has one employee and has Humana One (http://www.humana-one.com/) for both medical and dental. He and I are under my plan, so he had a hell of a time finding insurance for her. She had to get it on her own, but we pay the bill.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[spurschick]

I'm researching a Health Savings Account right now... but I'm definitely thinking of getting an agent involved, like you suggested, Manny.

[J.T.]

I'll be licensed to sell health insurance by the end of the week if those assholes in Austin quit slacking around and finish with the paperwork. I'll look into what kind of health plans my agency offers cuz I'm not familiar with them, I've been working with life and accident/disability mostly.

[spurschick]

I'll be licensed to sell health insurance by the end of the week if those assholes in Austin quit slacking around and finish with the paperwork. I'll look into what kind of health plans my agency offers cuz I'm not familiar with them, I've been working with life and accident/disability mostly.

I appreciate it!

[MannyIsGod]

I'm researching a Health Savings Account right now... but I'm definitely thinking of getting an agent involved, like you suggested, Manny.

Remember the Agents services are free until you buy. They get paid good money to take care of all the research and legwork for you. Make sure you're up to date on the current types of accounts and what not, but as far as quotes go get lots of them and just review all the information.

It really depends on what you feel comfortable picking up. When I was selling insurance it really varied from person to person but most really wanted doctors visits which drove me up the wall since it was really mostly a waste of money, IMO. But that was a good 8 years ago.

[spurschick]

It really depends on what you feel comfortable picking up. When I was selling insurance it really varied from person to person but most really wanted doctors visits which drove me up the wall since it was really mostly a waste of money, IMO. But that was a good 8 years ago.

I was talking to someone the other day about it and she told me that hospitals charge out the butt because they rarely see payment in full from the insurance companies. She said that if you need surgery and tell the hospital that you'll pay cash instead of going through insurance, they'll cut the cost. Her son had to have surgery and cut her bill in half when she said she'd pay cash. Instead of paying the insurance company $8,000, she paid the hospital $4,000 directly.

[MannyIsGod]

I was talking to someone the other day about it and she told me that hospitals charge out the butt because they rarely see payment in full from the insurance companies. She said that if you need surgery and tell the hospital that you'll pay cash instead of going through insurance, they'll cut the cost. Her son had to have surgery and cut her bill in half when she said she'd pay cash. Instead of paying the insurance company $8,000, she paid the hospital $4,000 directly.

This is true.

[CubanMustGo]

I was talking to someone the other day about it and she told me that hospitals charge out the butt because they rarely see payment in full from the insurance companies. She said that if you need surgery and tell the hospital that you'll pay cash instead of going through insurance, they'll cut the cost. Her son had to have surgery and cut her bill in half when she said she'd pay cash. Instead of paying the insurance company $8,000, she paid the hospital $4,000 directly.

Real-life example. My wife had a hysterectomy earlier this year. She was in the hospital for two nights. The bill we got from the hospital which did not include the amounts charged by the surgeon, assistant, anesthesiologist, etc was around $22K. But since we had insurance, the bill to the insurance company was $4K (of which we ended up paying $800). Somehow I don't think they would have taken even less had we offered to pay cash, but maybe so.

Hospitals, doctors, etc. should charge one rate regardless of the method of payment. Why should someone without insurance have to pay nearly six times what the insurance company gets to pay?

[pussyface.]

put your butt in me.

[PlayoffEx-static]

Check ehealthinsurance.com. People at my work with full families have actually left our company plan and bought from this site. Not affiliated in any way.

[RandomGuy]

Any of you self-employed folk have advice for securing a decent health insurance plan?

Move to Japan.



[Japanese premiums are] around $280 a month for the average Japanese family, a lot less than Americans pay. And Japan's employers pick up at least half of that. If you lose your job, you keep your health insurance.
Link (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89626309)

Yeah, that's right, $280/mo for a FAMILY. TOTAL.

[RandomGuy]

I'll be licensed to sell health insurance by the end of the week if those assholes in Austin quit slacking around and finish with the paperwork.

... yours and tens of thousands of others. The number of licensed insurance salespeople in Texas is rather astonishing.

Selling insurance has a rather low barrier to entry, somewhat like being a licensed "massage therapist". That means there are a LOT of people who try to do the work, relative to demand.

[RandomGuy]

Any of you self-employed folk have advice for securing a decent health insurance plan?

Here is a faq from "healthinsurance.org" (http://www.healthinsurance.org/resources/self-employed.lasso)

Link to a webpage where one can download the pdf: "Consumer Guide for Getting and Keeping Health Insurance in Texas" (http://healthinsuranceinfo.net/getinsured/texas/)

There are also LOTS of small business organizations, as well as a federal government agency, click here for a sample search at google. (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=small+business+association&btnG=Search)

Here is a link to one that seems to offer access to health insurance through the organization (http://www.nationalbusiness.org/NBAWEB/General/benefits.htm#Health)

Your best bet would be to find some collective bargaining group for small businesses that you can join. These groups function much the same as a larger corporation would in pooling resources and bargaining power.

[RandomGuy]

I was talking to someone the other day about it and she told me that hospitals charge out the butt because they rarely see payment in full from the insurance companies. She said that if you need surgery and tell the hospital that you'll pay cash instead of going through insurance, they'll cut the cost. Her son had to have surgery and cut her bill in half when she said she'd pay cash. Instead of paying the insurance company $8,000, she paid the hospital $4,000 directly.

Hospitals are like any other business. They have to charge their paying customers to make up for those who don't pay.

I talk about this in the politics forum a lot, but I will leave politics out of this discussion, and say merely that for all the debate about "socialized medicine", people who pay insurance premiums are already paying for those who don't have health insurance through this mechanism.

Legally, a hospital CANNOT turn away someone with a life threatening emergency if they have no health insurance. The only way to stop the cost shifting described above is to abolish this law.

This is NOT the only driver of cost increases, but is one of the major ones. Some of the others being the practice of "defensive medicine" and, ironically, the amount of administrative help required by physicians to sift through all of the different insurance company plans.

This is simply a reality of health care in the US that most aren't aware of.

[Jimcs50]

Our office has insurance through Scott and White. It is pretty reasonable for myself and my staff.

[sa_butta]

my insurance plan:

http://zoo.cs.yale.edu/~mjb63/images/tussin.jpg

If you got into a car accident are you going to pour that all over your broken leg??:lol