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Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

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Re: Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

#41

Post by artlogic »

Beached wrote: post #35
artlogic wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also in Michigan and curious about the specifics of options 2 and 3. Would you be willing to share the details?

Certainly, 2. The individual plan is from Priority health, it is their individual High deductible HMO HSA plan with a annual deductible of $6300. The entire spectrum health network is covered in the plan, (Spectrum health pretty much owns all of west MI and the Grand Rapids area). 3. http://www.healthshareplan.org/ When I contacted them, they only paid out to UoM and Mercy Health networks, not spectrum health. Since…

The HSP looks really interesting, and I'm currently living in Ann Arbor so UofM is practically within walking distance. Thanks for the information!

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

#44

Post by Aqueous »

Beached wrote: post #38
gwbas1c wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost went up because of the pre-existing condition situation. Pre Obama Care, if you had any kind of pre-existing condition, you wouldn't be able to buy the $84 coverage. (I got stuck having to get a normal job because of a pre-existing condition.)

Yes, Since I do not have any pre-existing condition, and have never smoked, that $84 would have been mine. Because no insurer can decline someone, my cost went up to make insurance for people with per-existing conditions more affordable.

The fact that you didn't have to buy insurance until 26 is a result of Obamacare too. Think of all the money you saved being on that insurance for several extra years. You're welcome!

And maybe in part because you're spending that $84 now someone else who has a pre-existing condition and no health insurance will be able to not die or go bankrupt if they get something serious.

You have to buy insurance because our system now factors in the strain on the system you would cause if something happened to you and you didn't have insurance. Just think of it like a tax (or the tax penalty like a tax, and the subsidy like a reward for responsible behavior.) That's how the Supreme Court thought of it.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

#45

Post by tanglesome »

mgkimsal wrote: post #25

We've got precious few choices in NC - our county has had only one insurance company providing ACA-compliant insurance for the last few years, and premiums have basically doubled in 3 years ($275/month to $530/month). It'll go up again next year no doubt. This is with the highest deductible available as well. Some areas of the country seem to have been better served with the passage of ACA, but much of NC seems in th…

That's because the NC state government refused to have anything to do with ACA.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

#46

Post by 300bps »

shiro wrote: post #30

I became a freelance 13 years ago. On COBRA for a while. Looked for IEEE group insurance but HI wasn't covered then. The insurance company (HMSA) offered a switch to individual plan. It wasn't too bad initially ($350/mo for me and my wife, HMO, $500/$1000 ded.) But then the premium soared and also we had a kid; at peak it was $1050/mo without drug, vision and dental. I learned antibiotics are pretty expensive. After…

Does that $650 per month include subsidies from the government for low income? Because that is far cheaper than what I received as a quote on healthcare.gov. For my wife and kids it was $1,100 per month with a $12,000 deductible. With that plan my out-of-pocket expenses would be $25,000 per year before the insurance paid a nickel!

86% of people who sign up with Obamacare received a subsidy1 from the government for low income. Without that, I don't understand how anyone could afford the rates posted there.

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1 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/us/11-7-million-americans-...

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

#47

Post by smutticus »

x5n1 wrote: post #5

live in canada.

Seriously, as a Dutch/American dual citize I'm debating moving back to the NL simply for this reason. From what I can tell I would pay close to a quarter in NL for better insurance than in the USA. The US is a complete ripoff.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

#48

Post by tanglesome »

I set up a Type C corp for my business. With it, the company can pay for all my employees (just me and my wife) medical expenses. For health insurance, in NC, I pay out the nose: $1,200 a month. It's a good, but not great, Blue Cross plan. In NC, that's really the only company that will look at you.

Re: Ask HN: Freelancers in the US: What do you do for health insurance?

#49

Post by Retric »

tanglesome wrote: post #48

I set up a Type C corp for my business. With it, the company can pay for all my employees (just me and my wife) medical expenses. For health insurance, in NC, I pay out the nose: $1,200 a month. It's a good, but not great, Blue Cross plan. In NC, that's really the only company that will look at you.

600$/month pretax is not that bad, but I suspect you can do better. https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ has lots of plans starting at $264.45 /month for a 35 year old.

Granted the deductibles look high, but unless you have ongoing heath issues your generally better off using a higher deductible and putting the difference into a savings account.

PS: Don't forget the high ROI part of health insurance is simple negotiating power, the risk mitigation part is less useful.

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