How should self employed individuals approach buying health insurance coverage? Our suggestion is to go through the following steps to see how you should proceed with your medical insurance needs.
First, are you just self employed with a family or do you have other full time w-2'd employees? If you are just by yourself then you can consider an individual plan if you meet the medical underwriting guidelines. If it is a husband and wife business then you could consider both a small group plan or an individual policy. Our office can advise on how to qualify for a business health insurance plan and the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing that option.
Certain documentation is needed to qualify as a business including payroll or business structure paperwork. This is a viable option if any of the family members do not qualify for a standard individual health insurance policy because of health issues. A small group health insurance policy allows for guaranteed issuance of coverage regardless of medical conditions. Starting in 2014 medical underwriting will become essentially a non factor when considering the best possible course of action.
If you have employees then you need to consider the costs of having a group policy and whether your employees will enroll based on the percentage of the employee health premium you will be offering to pay. Certain guidelines need to be met so this needs to be considered when choosing or considering a small group insurance. Affordability is a parameter obiously that needs to be considered along with the tradeoffs between individual or group coverage.
As previously stated we believe it comes down to affordability for your business. After this issue has been answered along with qualifiying for coverage then it comes down to additional issues such as coverage, physician participation and other types of insurance to consider such as dental and vision.
We will be more than happy to advise on all of these issues. Feel free to contact us toll free at 888-504-6171 or click on any of the above links to get further information.
