
Finding Your Own Health Insurance - theoneill
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/business/smallbusiness/27sbiz.html?ex=1364270400&en=fb34b5a22a9e2747&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
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kingnothing
I used ehealthinsurance.com to find a plan for myself when I got to college. I
went with an HMO to keep costs down for myself, and really only bought it for
"just in case" scenarios.

On the other hand, most people don't seem to know that the vast majority of
doctors are perfectly willing to negotiate rates with people who are
uninsured. You're not going to get much of a break on your bill when you have
a sore throat and need some antibiotics, but if you need an outpatient
surgery, for example, you can expect steep reductions.

I was in that situation and the surgeon cut his rate in half and charged me
nothing for any follow up office visits, which went on for some two or three
months. The hospital operating room charge was the most expensive part of the
whole equation, but they still dropped about 30% off their rates if I paid in
full up front, which wasn't a problem with a credit card that I keep paid off.

All in all, it still cost me several grand to have the surgery done, which
would have been the cost of several years worth of my current insurance
payments. On the upside, I got to shop around for a doctor I was comfortable
with and had faith in, as opposed to having a much smaller pool to choose from
with an HMO.

Something else you could look in to is a health savings account. Basically,
it's a tax free savings account that can only be used to pay for medical
expenses unless you want to be taxed on what you withdraw from it, kind of
like an IRA. The idea is that you should put the same amount in that account
as you would pay an insurance company, but it's still your money. If you don't
end up having to spend it, it's still in your pocket as opposed to an
insurance company's coffers. If you're diligent about making deposits to it,
that's probably the best way to go if you don't have some sort of corporate or
government health care to draw from.

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joshwa
It's important to distinguish between HSA's (good for some) and FSA's (use it
or lose it), which are what most employers offer.

Also, FSAs (and maybe some HSAs?) have no benefit if you're itemizing your
deductions on your tax returns.

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kingnothing
I believe HSAs give you similar tax benefits as IRAs once you hit retirement
age, although I don't know anything about what happens before that.

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johns
The best insurance when you're self employed is your spouse's :-)

I get medical + dental for $150/month directly from a major provider, which
isn't unreasonable. It helps that I'm young and healthy though.

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vlad
Massachusetts has the Insurance Partnership program which reimburses a part of
the insurance premium of your business and yourself. Additionally, there's
another program called the Commonwealth Connector that gives anybody 26 and
under the ability to purchase good health insurance from a major carrier for
about $150/mo regardless of income. Finally, Commonwealth Care is a program
that will pay between a portion to the full amount of the costs of one's
health insurance of residents who make 30,000 dollars a year and less.

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Xichekolas
An agent I know pointed me to <http://www.onlineinsurancecorp.com> where I got
the following:

    
    
      $1000 Deductible
      20%(me)/80%(them) split from $1000-$3000
      100% coverage over $3000
      $30 office visit copay
    

For $55.28/mo. Of course, I'm 24 and got the 'healthy lifestyle bonus' ...
whatever that means.

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izak30
My advice: go to an insurance agent, they aren't just there to get paid, they
(usually) know exactly what they're talking about. Also check out the
Freelancers union, because they have group-health(ish) policies to check out.

