Way OT- health insurance for self employed

[runnin late]

Since I am now a small business owner and no longer a part of the corporate world, my wife and I are looking for health insurance for the family. Just wondering if anyone has any good or bad experiences with providers that you might want to share. We don't know if it is best to look at plans ourselves or go through an agent. Just wondering on a windy day....
PM me if you don't want to respond in this post.
Thanks,
Dave

[27 sailfish]

Sit down when you open the quotes - they will shock you. Figure roughly $600.00-700.00 per month for decent coverage. It sucks for the small business owner.We have Blue Cross but got in years ago.

[CarterCrew]

Your best price would be to go through an association for people that do the type of work you do ... for example, there are associations for folks that do consulting and training. (what I do). Those associations tend to have a group health plan that is available to members.

[GTF]

Go to Esurance – Online Auto Insurance Quotes, Comparisons, & Resources

click on life/health insurance

You will have to give them basic info...age, weight, if you smoke, do you want dental cover, vision, etc.
Then you will see all of the available policies based on your provided criteria.

fyi...If your family is NOT going to have anymore children...make sure you remove the maternity benefits from your wifes portion of the quote...this will dramatically lower the cost.

fyi#2...keep in mind insurance companies are able to raise your rates anytime they like with a one month notice. (After my wife had our 2nd child, our insurance jumped by 40%...of course we got a new policy)

good luck.

Grady.

[Hunter]

Be sure to look into any COBRA coverage you might be entitled to from whomever you had your previous coverage with/thru. My wife & I sold our business 3 years ago and went thru absolute hell trying to get individual coverage; which we never were able to. As an indivdual, you will be subjected to the closest scrutiny through their underwriting process. They will exclude any pre-existing conditions or current medications from coverage. None of this happens when you join a group plan.

Since you have started your own business, you might qualify to put in place a group plan of your own. With a group plan, there is NO underwriting in the state of Maryland and this means they cannot discriminate. Catch is, to be a group, you need at least two 'participants'. If you don't have any employees, you can be a participant for parent with one child coverage and your wife can be a participant with one child coverage. If you have more than 2 children, then one of you will need to have family coverage. You will need to find someone willing to help you with this. Biggest problem in this area is proving you have a legit business; so be sure you have the necessary business licenses, business checking account, federal id #, etc.

If you have ANY pre-existing conditions and cannot work out any of the above, then the State of MD has one of the best high-risk plans in the country. This is where we ended up getting coverage. The website of this plan is here... Maryland Health Insurance Plan (MHIP) But to get into this plan you need to have exhausted all other alternatives available to you. Even if you secure an individual policy and coverage through the MD is cheaper, you will qualify to join

I went through a lot with this mess and learned a lot. If you need any help, send me a bmail.

[Echo]

I have Optimum Choice Inc. ( OCI) via United Healthcare, family plan, myself, wife and two kids is $883.00 a month. OUCH !!! Started five years ago a $625.00 and it goes up $50 to $60 per year.. Its a full coverage plan, we never use it, but with two teens, ya gotta protect yourself. Most of it I beleive, is written off by accountant, which is another $2400 a year.. so I guess shes doing a good job.. Of course this is all under the Bush Regime, whom I voted for, and thats why I'm gonna give B.O. a chance.

[WHACKMASTER]

We have Blue Cross Blue Shield, and are paying about 1200.00 per month. It was a lot less but Ive had Cancer a knee rebuild and my wife spends about a onth a year in the hospital for her migranes. Im just happy to have insurance!

Jeff

[CSLUG]

BC/BS personal comp.

[DaveOsh]

I had a high deductible CareFirst package for $311 per month for family. $2500 deductible but I only wanted it for catastrophic. I'm pretty sure we hit the deductible in about 4 months due to my wife's condition, which we didn't know about before we started. Go to CareFirst.com and click on "Need to Buy Individual Coverage" on middle left under Solutions Center. They'll give you a ton of options to go through. I'd recommend an HSA account--where you can put money away monthly for healthcare costs tax free.

I recently started up my own company with some partners so now we have a corporate package which is $803 per month including dental and vision--through CareFirst again.

My experience is that it hasn't been so expensive as some others have said.

Good luck.

[CSLUG]

1 Trickey thing to consider. If the company is paying the bill, and you plan on having any employees. You must also offer the same package to them.... company paid.