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I was giving an interview on freelancing this week, when the reporter stopped me and said, "I have a tip for people who want to freelance: Make sure you marry someone with good health insurance."
People who aren't traditional full-time employees get this advice a lot. And not just freelancers, but part-timers, contractors, temps, and full-timers whose employers don't offer insurance benefits in the first place. And this "you'd better marry for medical coverage" line never fails to annoy us.
Single Shot columnist Diane Mapes wrote in the Seattle P-I this past week about the high rate of people who hasten their nuptials because one person needs the health insurance. As Mapes reports, of those couple who legally can marry, the need for health coverage accounted for 7 percent of knot-tying in 2007.
I'm with Mapes, who says in her column:
"I love working; I love earning my own keep. But what I don't love is that good health care is so out of reach for a certain segment of society that it's making people consider all sorts of wacky schemes to 'get some.'"
Unless you work at a company that picks up a majority of your healthcare tab, you're probably all too familiar with the nightmare of trying to finance your own healthcare premiums and out-of-pocket medical costs.
The options aren't pretty:
Go with the COBRA coverage you're offered through your former employer and you pay through the nose. Even with the 9-month, 65-percent subsidy Obama's stimulus package gives you if you're freshly laid off, you still might find COBRA premiums out of reach. (To do the math, see this COBRA subsidy calculator.)
Or, buy your own insurance through a site like eHealthInsurance, a reputable insurance agent, or a professional association and you're lucky if you can afford a plan with a $2,500 deductible.
Since I'm self-employed and not married or shacked up, I buy my own plan. And try not to throw things at the wall whenever my bills and claim statements arrive. I've found that working with an insurance agent who can research and weigh the various plans available to me is helpful. Just last week, my agent helped me save $1,500 a year by suggesting a new plan that was more suited to my needs.
How about you? If you've recently been laid off or never had an employer's or a partner's insurance plan to begin with, what are you doing for healthcare coverage? Or, like so many other Americans, are you doing without and crossing your fingers?
Freelance writer Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail her at ninetothrive@nwjobs.com.
By Troy on March 1, 2009 3:22 PM
Millions of Americans who lost their jobs prior to September 1, 2008 could not afford Cobra. Millions more elected Cobra but have now depleted their resources and can not continue on. Still millions more with pre-existing conditions who rely on cobra to bridge the 18 month gap between their former employers insurance and their state's high risk insurance pools are struggling to pay their premiums every month to prevent being locked out of insurance permanently.
Please join us in asking Congress and the Obama administration to eliminate the arbitrary September 1, 2008 cut-off date and 9 month limitation of assistance by signing our petition at ipetitions and telling your friends about our efforts.
For more information on the healthcare coverage issues surrounding the unemployed, please see our website. Click on my name above.
By Rob M on March 1, 2009 7:09 PM
I have to wonder how Canada and France can have quality medical care for everyone but we can't.
I know that people are going to say the Canadians and French pay outrageous taxes but I don't know. If you added the insurance premiums you and your employer pay for you and called it a "tax" I'll bet we are coming out with the dirty end of the stick.
Marry a Canadian or join the army if want affordable medical care.
By Simon B on March 2, 2009 11:35 AM
That Reporter was Right. My company Vista Health solutions www.nyhealthinsurer.com sells NY self employed health insurance plans. That's a question that we ask before we even begin to speak of options. Once most people find out just how expensive a plan is, they always look for alternative options
By K-Funk on March 2, 2009 5:43 PM
Rob M,
Yes, Canadians and French pay much higher taxes, but I think what you really need to ask yourself is this: Do Canada and France really have quality health care for everyone?
I think you will find that the answer is "no." Yes, they have run of the mill preventative health care free to everyone. But if you get sick, really sick, and need some major care, you are put on a long, long waiting list of which you may not have the time to get off. There are a lot of Canadians that come down here, to the good ol' U.S. of A. to get procedures done because they cannot wait to fight through the red tape and waitlists.
By Puzzler on March 2, 2009 7:15 PM
Don't talk about Canadian waiting times!
I presently am on a 5-year waiting time to get my broken foot seen to! I'm currently 60 and will have to limp painfully around until I'm 65, at which time can access the coverage I've been paying into all these years via my Medicare premiums.
By worker bee girl on March 3, 2009 1:48 PM
I work on IT projects in health care actually so I have paid for an individual policy $500 ded, $458 a month even though I often get health insurance from my employer. Because I can't afford the Cobra policy they offer in most cases and would lose access to the individual policy if I dropped it. (you would have to pay for 18 months of cobra to roll over into the individual policy)
The last time I had really good insurance I needed some counseling following an assault on a business trip which my individual policy at the time didn't cover. I could no longer travel and they let me go as a result so I paid for both the Cobra policy for 18 months and my individual policy (over $900 a month total) to protect myself from needing more intensive care (thankfully I didn't).
I try to be responsible so now I am back to just the individual plan but I have put off care this year s I haven't met my deductible yet and I lost my last job in November
By menelaus on March 4, 2009 7:54 AM
i pay 200 a month for health insurance for me and my wife. You have to go with a high deductible. If you're really managing your own finances, the insurance plan should be a worst case scenario stopper. My deductible is 5,000. That way, I wont go bankrupt, but am on the hook for 100% of the costs the maybe 1 time a year I ever go to the doctor.
By Rob M on March 4, 2009 10:47 AM
I'm on several internet lists and have heard the rumors of waiting for Canadian care. I asked and I heard from 8 or 10 Canadians who do not have to wait any longer than I do the see a doctor. You are the first Canadian I have ever talked to who had to wait for an extraordinary long time.
As to the quality of care in France or Canada, I have seen the lists where US care is rated well down on the quality list (below the western European nations) and top of the list for cost (per person).
Here in the USA medical care is a profit center and people die because they cannot afford insurance. I know people who have jobs they hate because of the medical insurance help (it still takes one fourth of their pay).
By TTS on March 6, 2009 4:17 PM
I've recently become self-employed and opted to go with a Health Savings Account paired with a high-deductible health care plan. I'm lucky that I don't have any ongoing health issues, and when I need care, I pay out of pocket, but it's with tax-free money which essentially gives me an immediate 30%+ discount. My monthly premium is under $90.
I certainly don't think this is the optimum solution but at least I'm not spending hundreds each month for a plan I never or rarely use, which was my other option.
I'm hoping this administration can make some headway in setting up a system that is more focused on health and less on profit. I'm astonished at how far behind we are in this area.
By SJN on March 7, 2009 9:30 AM
TTS must be young. I am 54 and an HSA with a $3500 per year deductible is around $275 per month.
By Jason on March 10, 2009 11:47 AM
I just think the paradigm of employer-based insurance is not fair to freelancers and others who want to make their living in more creative ways. If someone wants variety and wants to work two part-time jobs, that seems reasonable. But they can't get health insurance. Also, there are other health care systems besides those of the US and Canada. What about Britain, Germany, France, Japan, UK, Sweden? Maybe we could find something better in those.
By DeAnn on March 16, 2009 5:14 PM
Michelle, my husbands contract job ended at the first of the month, and we can't afford my medications for Crohns Disease, nor can we afford an operation that my doctor says I need on my intestines, lest they rupture and I die.
The operation costs 10K, and we don't have that, either. The unemployment insurance people are stalling him on getting any money from the state, so we are in a real pickle right now. COBRA wasn't an option this time around, either. I would welcome universal health care, even if it meant higher taxes.
By Heather on March 17, 2009 1:58 PM
I was laid off in January. I was told I could pay $400-$500 a month as part of COBRA, which was too much for me. After I learned about the stimulus bill's 65% payment by the government, I then asked the HR manager what my payment would be. She says that since the firm I worked for had less than 20 employees, we don't qualify for COBRA and thus, we do not qualify for this 65% payment. Something seems really wrong here.
By Ed Harris on April 5, 2009 5:44 PM
Many states have guaranteed coverage programs. Rates are high, but in some cases, less than Cobra.
Fortunately, here in Ohio, rates remain fairly low.
By AMH Insurance on June 22, 2009 7:43 AM
The current COBRA subsidy helps, but maybe some of this will change with health care reform.
By Health Insurance Providers on October 20, 2009 9:40 PM
What you may not realize is that typically individual health insurance is much much cheaper than a similar group health insurance plan through an employer. As long as you are somewhat healthy then you will end up paying about half as much for an individual health plan as a group health plan. Most people mistakenly think that group is cheaper just because they do not realize how much their employer is chipping in on their behalf.
By Dan H on November 5, 2009 10:01 AM
There are so many ways to drive down your premiums and keep good coverage. Using an HSA with a supplemental plan is one of them. You just need a good independent health insurance agent to show you the way!
By Scott B on November 14, 2009 11:34 PM
I agree with Dan, there are many options. No doubt we need some CHANGE to our health care system but it doesn't sound like we are headed in the right direction..
By Michael O on November 18, 2009 1:49 PM
Find a professional you can trust, and have that person help you understand the differences in each plan.It usually is what you don't know that can hurt you. Premiums are just one part of the equation.
By health insurance quote on January 8, 2010 12:37 AM
You can shop online for a policy and buy a policy. Hopefully the future will be you shop online and choose a policy and your taxes will cover the bulk of the premium. That is the system that works for the rest of the world. And by the way I am a health broker,so I will be put out a job.