All you lone business people out there - where are you going for health insurance? I just called two companies and both said that they will not provide insurance for a company with less than two people.
It isn’t the companies, it is state law that defines a business as at least 2 persons for insurance purposes.
If you are part of an association you may qualify under them. It also appears that PA has an agreement with Blue Cross that has some individual plans on a guaranteed issue basis. (meaning they can’t reject you for health reasons, though there may be waiting periods)
I would suggest looking into one of those two routes if you don’t qualify for other individual plans.
My father is self employed and buys insurance through Northeastern Business Trust, I believe. Not sure if they do business in PA or not, though.
Mr. Athena and I are both self-employed, and we buy private insurance through Golden Rule. Blue Cross/Blue Shield also offers it, as well as places like Kaiser. You just need to start asking for individual policies, not business.
Ah, the greatest joy of self-employment.
There used to be multiple organizations that offered group insurance for the self-employed. You joined their group and got insurance at the group rate + a handling fee.
A lot of the insurance companies have stopped offering coverage through these groups. One that is still around is at www.freelancersunion.com. A lot of the availability depends on what state you live in, the above website offers plans in 30 states. They aren’t going to be nearly as good as the insurance you’re used to getting from an employer, especially the drug co-pays.
An insurance agent also might be able to help you, a lot of these organizations sell only through agents.
Beware of the health insurance company Atlantis. My doctor dropped them and told me they endanger their patients lives to save a buck.
Your other choices will be an extraordinarily expensive individual policy or a medical savings account. Depending on how much you earn and where you live you may be eligible for subsidizied insurance…for example, GHI in New York offers subsidized policies but I have never been ableto qualify
Individual plans are not necessarily more expensive than business. I have seen a number of cases where individual rates were less than a comparable business plan. The main difference is that you have to pass a medical review (In virtually every case) to qualify under individual.