The biggest concern I hear from people who are thinking about starting, or already have, their own business is
lack of medical insurance. What most people don't know is that there are many options available that will allow you to have both medical and dental insurance without having a large company paying most of premiums.When you go looking for health insurance, you need to know four main types.
* Fee-For Service. With this plan you pay a percentage of cost with every doctors visit. The standard is 80/20 where insurance company pays 80% and you pay 20%. You must meet your yearly deductible, however, before insurance company begins paying anything. Most deductibles range between $200 and $1,000. The higher deductible lower your monthly premiums. * Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). HMO's usually have no deductible, but you have to make a co-pay for each visit. The co-pay usually ranges between $5 and $20. With HMO's you can only go to doctors that are members of HMO. You select a primary physician who coordinates all of your medical care and who will refer you to any specialist you may need to see. * Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). As with HMO's, there is usually no deductible and you have a co-pay for each visit. You must choose a doctor that's a member of PPO to get full coverage. You can go to a doctor who's not a member, but you will have to pay more, usually about 20% of cost. PPO's give you more freedom of choice, but premiums are usually higher than with an HMO. * Point of Service (POS) plan. It's similar to a PPO, but if you want a primary care doctor to coordinate your medical care you can select one.
If you are leaving a company where you had insurance then you should check out COBRA. The federal government set up COBRA program for employees, and their dependents, of companies with at least twenty employees. If you leave your company, or are laid off, then you can continue your health insurance for between eighteen and thirty-six months. These rates are higher than you have paid in past, though. You will not only be paying your share of insurance premium, but also amount your employer used to pay. For example, with one company I was laid off from, my monthly health insurance premium would have jumped from $25 to $239. If you have a lot of medical bills, this may be well worth cost.
If your spouse has insurance, you should look into putting yourself on their policy. Many times you don't even have to be married. You can be added under "Significant Other" coverage.
Check with any organizations you belong to. I can get insurance through several writing organizations, as well as my college alumni association. Some people join an organization just to take advantage of an insurance program they offer. If you look around, you will find that almost every field has at least one organization representing them. Many of these organizations offer some kind of health insurance.
There are other nontraditional sources of insurance too. The credit union I belong to offers inexpensive life insurance. Actually, they give me $1,000 of life insurance at no cost. My credit card company offers many forms of insurance at no cost, including car rental, travel, health while on trips and more. Check all of these sources to see what they offer. One way to find places to check into is to look into your wallet. What cards do you have there? Clubs, organizations, unions, credit cards, alumni associations and more.
