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Many employers offer employee health care plans, though the wave of the future focuses on wellness rather than treatment in many new company-sponsored policies. There are even some who say health care is currently under attack from politicians, many of whom are promising re-vamped health care systems contingent upon election in 2008. Yet, most of the health care focus remains on employer-sponsored programs, platforms and changes which leave work at home professionals completely out in the cold.
Health Care and Self Employment
When the focus is on health care policies offered by employers, the self employed still find themselves all alone. Those who work at home for themselves don’t have an employer to fall back on, no company-sponsored policy to take care of themselves and their dependents, no tax break for providing their own insurance. In fact, in most states the self employed actually have to pay an extra tax simply for being self employed. Work at home professionals find themselves paying money out at the end of the year for taxes, paying money out monthly for the cost of maintaining insurance and paying ‘til it hurts when it comes to health care costs in general. The only option for self employed professionals is often individual health care policies. The problem with these policies is that they simply aren’t very good.
Paying on an Individual Policy
Monetarily, anything other than an individual policy isn’t conceivable for most self employed, work at home professionals. Having dependents is simply too costly for plans which already cost around $100 each month – and that’s just single-person coverage. Paying on an individual health care policy is just one more monthly bill, and in a profession where pay comes unsteadily or not at all accepting yet one more responsibility can be a huge burden. Affordable health care isn’t impossible, but it is hard to find, and not everyone has the same definition of “affordable.”
Individual health insurance policies are extremely tricky, and self employed professionals should proceed with caution before signing up. Some discount health plans are little better than scams, leaving working professionals very little coverage to show for their monthly payments. Many individual policies offer little to no office visit coverage, and while the idea of “no co-pay” might sound attractive it might also mean being liable for paying the bulk of each and every doctor’s visit. A great number of these policies include little to no prescription drug coverage at all, making a single pill cost $50 or more.
When it comes to health care for the self employed, there’s still a lot of work to be done. The focus is on employer packages, not the health care policies which make it easier for individuals to work. Be sure to do the research and be careful before agreeing to any individual health care policy. Sometimes, the minimal coverage that’s offered isn’t worth the full-coverage price.
KC Morgan - KC Morgan has been the featured writer in Self-Employment since 2006, using personal experience to create guides to being self-employed.
