4 Health Insurance Choices for the Self-Employed

4 Health Insurance Choices for the Self-Employed

Health insurance is important for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you work for someone, you are unemployed or you own a small business, insurance will save you from exorbitant medical bills. But a question mark will arise when you are self-employed. How can you get a good insurance when you don’t have a company to cover your insurance policy?
Actually nowadays there are plenty of insurance options for the self-employed. But if you don’t choose wisely, you might end up paying for high premiums for basic coverage. To help you shop for the best insurance, here are 4 health options for the self-employed

Individual Insurance
Individual insurance is the easiest choice. You can easily get it with various types of coverage. However, the premium cost of individual health insurancecan be very expensive. Make sure you do some research and compare several policies first to get good price with also good coverage. Now, Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) is available to help the self-employed get the best individual insurance. There is no pre-existing condition regulation, and as the name suggests, it’s affordable.

Spousal Coverage
You can get this benefit if your spouse is working under an employer and pay for family insurance coverage. The premium is more expensive than the regular worker’s insurance since it covers more people. But this plan is still cheaper compared to some individual insurance you can get. This is safe and simple choice. However, if your spouse stops working, you will automatically lose your insurance too.

COBRA
If you previously worked in a company that employs more than 20 people, you will be eligible for COBRA insurance. COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. Under this regulation, companies must provide health insurancefor their former employees for 18 months since the employees leave or lose their job. This is temporary, and the premium you must pay will be higher. But it will give you time to shop for better insurance.

Small-Business Insurance
If you are the only worker in your company, it means you are self-employed. But if you employ at least two permanent workers, you are now in small-business category and you are eligible to get small-business insurance. Under the Affordable Health Care Act, you no longer have to worry about your or your employees pre-existing condition. But remember that when you choose this plan, you must pay half of the premium of your employees. So, make sure you take everything into consideration when shopping for self-employed health insurance.