What are the estimated costs of health insurance for someone who is self-employed in the US (Massachusetts in particular) ?

Originally posted by barleduc
What are the estimated costs of health insurance for someone who is self-employed in the US (Massachusetts in particular) ?

Hey Barleduc -

I imagine the costs would be, roughly the same as if you cobra'd from an ex company. Probably for a standard HMO, it would be about 260 a month for a single person.

Now of course, there ARE other insurance packages available, like major medical and such that are much cheaper.

I am currently without, and as a diabetic, I'm doing lots of praying. :(

Steve

I've been searching the internet for some information, but this stuff is confusing.

Currently I live in the Netherlands, where the system is much simpler and everyone has a good health insurance here.

I am planning on moving to the US within a few years, so that's why I was wondering how much decent health insurance and such costs there (being self-employed)

$260 a month is quite an amount, no wonder you're not insured! :)

Originally posted by barleduc
I've been searching the internet for some information, but this stuff is confusing.

Currently I live in the Netherlands, where the system is much simpler and everyone has a good health insurance here.

I am planning on moving to the US within a few years, so that's why I was wondering how much decent health insurance and such costs there (being self-employed)

$260 a month is quite an amount, no wonder you're not insured! :)

Yeah, that's what I was paying after I got laid off from Compaq back a year ago. The prices of insurance keep going up everywhere though. I know my ex-wife is paying 200 a month for her and our son, and where she works, they actually pay a good chunk of it.

The Netherlands are nice. You should just move to Curacao, and call it a day! :D


Steve

Proibably one of the only advantages of living in the UK - nhs - people knock it like hell, but it saves health insurance costs, we just get taxed in other forms to pay for it ;)

Kaiser offers plans in a few states (which may or may not help you): http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/healthplans/mpindividual.html

Says personal plans start at $123 in CA. I haved Kaiser coverage through work, so I don't actually use this plan.

Health plans vary widely state to state. Looking at Kaiser, for example, an individual plan starts at $86 in Oregon, but they don't even offer individual plans in Washington.

This is mostly due to the laws being so different from state to state, dealing with issues such as what type of care the insurance companies are required to pay for & what reasons they are allowed to use to deny service.

In my experience, this is one of those things where you just need to find the yellow pages for the state you live in & start calling places up.

Greetings:

Please be sure to check with your local chamber and other networking agencies in your area and on the Net.

They often have packages you that can benefit you cost wise.

Thank you.

Originally posted by dynamicnet
Greetings:

Please be sure to check with your local chamber and other networking agencies in your area and on the Net.

They often have packages you that can benefit you cost wise.

Thank you.

Funny you should mention that, since that was my next stop in search of things like, getting to know my community better, as well as looking into what the Chamber can offer my business.


Steve

Originally posted by barleduc
I've been searching the internet for some information, but this stuff is confusing.

Currently I live in the Netherlands, where the system is much simpler and everyone has a good health insurance here.

I am planning on moving to the US within a few years, so that's why I was wondering how much decent health insurance and such costs there (being self-employed)

$260 a month is quite an amount, no wonder you're not insured! :)

If I could get good reliable (as in they won't drop me the first time I have to actually visit a doctor) health insurance for ONLY $260 a month, I'd probably kiss the salesman, square on the lips.

Try more like $600 a month for a family of 3.

And considering my wife has asthma, and uses roughly $180 in perscription drugs a month, that policy would last, maybe, 3 months before we were "dropped".

Originally posted by Dixiesys


If I could get good reliable (as in they won't drop me the first time I have to actually visit a doctor) health insurance for ONLY $260 a month, I'd probably kiss the salesman, square on the lips.

Try more like $600 a month for a family of 3.

And considering my wife has asthma, and uses roughly $180 in perscription drugs a month, that policy would last, maybe, 3 months before we were "dropped".

Oh yeah, the 260 a month was just for ME! My med's along cost about 200 a month now as it is. I'm diabetic... :rolleyes:

Yeah, I'm hoping to hear from the Chamber today to see what they have to offer... I'm also looking into some sort of prescription plan that would help offset some of the costs of meds.

Originally posted by barleduc
What are the estimated costs of health insurance for someone who is self-employed in the US (Massachusetts in particular) ?


I've seen recent tv commercials for this company http://www.aflac.com that advertise cheap insurance for individuals. I've had it somewhere I worked before and it was ok.