Health Insurance for the Self-Employed
Most discussion about health insurance is about how people can purchase affordable health insurance. Such discussions tend to assume that people are not self-employed. As a result, it only looks at insurance coverage in one of three ways:
- People can purchase health insurance privately, without any financial assistance.
- People can have their employers sponsor health insurance plans whose prices are lower than comparative plans’ market prices.
- People with low incomes, certain medical conditions, or over a certain age, can qualify for government health insurance, like Medicaid or Medicare.
One topic that is not discussed, however, is what options self-employed people have. Of course, they can purchase insurance privately. But does the fact that they are self-employed help or hinder them in any way?
That answer to this question is difficult to pinpoint. Self-employed people, though, have a number of options that they may find more appealing than non-self-employed people might. For example, small business owners may choose discount plans. Such plans offer discounts on certain medical services. Usually not included, however, are major surgeries that cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Health Savings Accounts are also an option that some self-employed people may consider. Also known as HSAs, such accounts allow people to put a certain amount of income into special, non-taxed accounts that can be used for medical reasons. Health Insurance for the Self-Employed