health insurance for self-employed? - Health Insurance Issues Message Board

longell · 10-04-2003, 08:54 PM

My husband is self-employed and we have Cigna HMO. The price is outrageous and does not cover our prescriptions, and we also have to pay a yearly fee to the small business group we are with. Business is extremely bad and we can no longer afford this coverage.We both have health issues.
Does anyone know of a health plan(such as Blue Cross HMO, Harvard health ect.) that is good?We are from Massachusetts.
Our business is very small with no other employees.
Thank you!

mudhound · 10-25-2003, 04:28 AM

Good Luck

PJ1126 · 10-30-2003, 05:30 PM

I'm in a similar boat, I'm self-employed & my husband is about to quit his day job to b/c self-employed, too. We've narrowed it down to 2 insurance companies: Fortis Health (thru State Farm insurance) and BCBS. We're going to talk with an insurance broker about our particular needs (hoping to start a family soon - unfortunately, self-pay insurance doesn't cover that - or, if they do, it's after you pay an extra fee for 9 months prior to pregnancy & the 9 mos of pregnancy). If I find out more info, I'll let you know...Good luck. ALso, you may want to do a web search & see if you can find ratings for different companies...

rubindj · 10-31-2003, 06:52 PM

Basically you have two options if you are a small business:

1) If you have more than 1 employee (even if it is husband and wife), purchase a group plan rather than a "self-employed" plan. Even a small group plan will have much better benefits than those you have described. It will not be cheap. If you are a husband and wife, each of you will have to apply as a separate person, aka not as a family. This really won't make much of a difference in your premium.

2) Slightly better than option 1 is to pay the cobra insurance / get insurance through spouses workplace. This will be cheaper in almost all cases than option 1, and provide better coverage. This may not be the case if you are leaving a small employer.

3) If you are healthy, get a private, personal policy (or family policy). This will be your best option if you can get underwritten, and shouldn't have any pre-existing conditions if you had previous insurance coverage. You won't get pregnancy coverage in these policies, but they usually will cover the complicataions of pregnancy. The difference in cost between this option and 1 or 2 should allow you to pay for a normal preg. without problem.

Good luck

picksie · 12-02-2003, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubindj

Basically you have two options if you are a small business:

1) If you have more than 1 employee (even if it is husband and wife), purchase a group plan rather than a "self-employed" plan. Even a small group plan will have much better benefits than those you have described. It will not be cheap. If you are a husband and wife, each of you will have to apply as a separate person, aka not as a family. This really won't make much of a difference in your premium.
Good luck

If you choose this route, you will have to prove that you are a paid employee with your company and not just a co-owner. Providing W-2 should suffice, although some companies get pretty particular about how they get their proof. Either way you go, DON'T go without insurance or your pre-existing conditions will become a problem. BCBS, at least in this area, is about the most competitive in the way of individual insurance plans. But I would reccomend the group plan if you qualify. Almost every carrier provides a 2-9 life line of coverages. Good luck....