The Best Path To Health Insurance For The Newly Self-Employed

Health insurance for the self-employed is always a dicey topic. How do you get good health insurance when you are self-employed? How do you get good health insurance and still be able to afford it?

While health insurance is a must, it can be hard to reconcile these two points. If you are already self-employed then it is likely that you have already faced these challenges, but what if you are newly self-employed?

Before You Become Self-Employed

Presumably you hold a job and have health insurance at your current job before you make the leap to self-employment. If you know that self-employment is in your future then you will want to plan ahead for this life change. The more time you have the more planning you can do so take full advantage of this time before you make the change.

You will want to take any opportunity you have to change to your employer’s cheapest health plan, as long as it will still work for you, before you depart from the company. While you will need an open enrolment period to accomplish this feat, if you have then chance then you should go for it. It will make life a little less expensive in the next step.

Hold On To Your Health Insurance

Even when you leave your job, you can hold on to your health insurance through COBRA. This act allows you to keep the insurance that you have now for as many as 18 months at groups rates provided the company you were at meets certain criteria and you were not fired for reasons such as incompetence or gross negligence.

This will help you to hold onto your coverage but the price of maintaining coverage while you are self-employed will be steep. Know this ahead of time. It has been estimated that individuals who get their insurance through an employer end up paying around 28% of their health insurance costs. Now you will be paying it all.

Marriage Benefits

If you have a working spouse then your insurance concerns may be nonexistent. You can just get on your spouse’s plan. This will be the next most cost effective option after getting insurance through your own employer.

Find New Coverage

If you do not have a spouse who can have you on their health insurance plan then you will need to make other arrangements. Your time with COBRA is not a time to rest easy. This is your chance to investigate the options that you have for personal health insurance. You want to scramble to compare plans, rates, and coverage because your COBRA period will be over sooner than you think.

You will have to find a policy that offers the coverage that you need at a price you can afford. You can always consider lowering insurance premiums by raising your deductible. You need to make sure that you will be able to pay this higher deductible but if you can then this is an easy way to get your hands on affordable health insurance payments.

This is the best path to health insurance for the newly self-employed. You want to plan ahead, use COBRA to ease your transition, and use the time that you are given to secure new health insurance coverage. Being your own boss means that you are the one taking care of the details and health insurance is one of the first that you need to take care of.