Health insurance for freelancers

[jumptheshadow]

A friend of mine who is a freelancer is looking for good, reasonably priced group health insurance.

She is a set designer and painter who, for some reason I've forgotten, doesn't belong to the designers' union.

Are there any group plans for freelancers or home-based workers?

[will work 4 food]

1. Health Insurance

Has become like life Insurance, worse even. You can only get it if you don't need it, and unlike life insurance they can take it away, or raise the premiums so high that you can't afford to keep it. At least with life insurance, once you have it, it is yours at the same rate for the term of the policy.

Try Blue Cross Blue Shield. They have a decent HMO.

[Demobrat]

2. When I was a freelancer I had disaster coverage

from Blue Cross. It was hospitalization only with a $2000 deductible, but the premium was about $50/month and I'm in my forties. For a single person, it was just fine.

[Kat45]

3. The only one I know of is for freelance writers

The National Writers Union offered a health plan for its members, but I'm not sure if anything has changed in the last few years. (The way things have been going, who knows if they still have it.) I think the site is www.nwu.org

[dove2]

4. a unusual alternative

to regular health insurance, especially if you have any preexisting conditions which would make regular insurance unaffordable, is to take a few hours at your local university and sign up for their student health insurance. Even after paying the tuition, it is still cheaper for me!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I did that back in the 1980s

when I lived in Minneapolis before and was only semi-employed. I took night classes at the University of Minnesota and signed up for their health insurance.

Too many people must have caught on to that trick, though, because I checked, and you now have to be in a degree or certificate program before they'll let you sign up. :-(

I still haven't solved the problem, since while Blue Cross has a high-deductible plan that I could possibly afford, the initial sign-up costs are rather high.

:scared:

[CBGLuthier]

5. My two man company is switching

We have BCBS and they are raising to over $700 person.

We are switching to a plan from American Republic Insurance. They are out of Des Moines Iowa and the plan is called CareProtect.

It should cost us about $400 a month and I believe it can be gotten by a single entity unlike our BCBS which reuqired both of us to get it.

EDIT: I just realized that may sound expensive. We both have families. I am sure a single person's plan would be cheaper.

[LuLu550]

6. many local Chambers of Commerce

have begun offering group health insurance for their members. She should look into it. Not specifially for freelance writers, but she can join as a "business" if they do offer insuance. We have two business organizations around here (Albany NY), a local business association and a regional chamber of commerce and both offer resonable health insurance for member businesses and their employees.