There are a lot of Americans who have absolutely no form of health insurance. Most people who do have health insurance are getting it as a benefit from their place of employment. If you are doing contract work, freelance work, or are self employed, then your job isn’t one that will offer you health insurance. Instead, people who are self-employed need to find their own health insurance plan. Here are a few ideas about how to make that happen.
Does your spouse have employer sponsored health insurance? If so, it’s possible that your spouse’s health insurance plan can also cover your health care needs. Sometimes, these kinds of health insurance policies will automatically cover the spouse of the insured employee. If you are not already covered by your spouse’s health insurance, you may need to wait until the next open enrollment period before you can be added onto the plan. After you are added, it is possible that your premium may increase in cost. Even so, getting added to your spouse’s already existing health insurance may be the least expensive option when it comes to finding health insurance.
COBRA might be another option. If you are transitioning from being an employee at a company to being self-employed, it’s possible that you can use COBRA to stretch out your current health insurance plan after you leave your job. The cost of your premium is going to increase dramatically, because your former employer won’t be helping you pay for health insurance anymore. If you can afford this option, it will enable you to extend your existing health insurance for up to a year and a half after you leave your job.
See if you can tap into another form of group health insurance, that is not centered around a job. Are you connected with a professional organization? Do you belong to a freelancer union? They may offer a form of group health insurance to members. Group health insurance is less expensive to purchase than individual health insurance is. This is because the insurance company can spread out the health care costs over the premiums it gets from all of it’s customers. This is how many employers are able to offer health care benefits to their workers.
There are other groups that offer group health insurance to members. If you belong to AAA, orAARP, you should check with them, to see if they can help you. Members of Rotary and Lions Clubs might also find discounted health insurance from those organizations. Some universities offer health insurance plans to alumni. You probably spent several years, and several thousand dollars, attending that school. Perhaps they can help you out with an affordable health insurance plan? If you happen to be age 65 or older, you might qualify for Medicare.
If all of these options fail, you may need to look for an individual health insurance plan. In general, these plans are going to come with more expensive premiums than a group health insurance policy will. Depending on your own, personal, health issues, an individual health insurance plan may be better than having no health insurance at all. This, of course, is assuming that you can afford it.
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