Money Saving Tips For The Self-Employed Insurance Seeker
If you're self-employed, then you know exactly how expensive life can be. Between having to buy your own health insurance because you don't qualify for any other type of coverage and the high cost of maintaining a business, it's easy to lose track. But there are ways to save money on all of these things.
This post shares some creative and innovative methods that can help lower your costs and keep more money in your pocket.
Self-employed insurance, by definition, is not a cheap thing to have. So what can you do to ensure the protection of your livelihood? The first step is to make sure you are indeed self-employed. If you have employees, then it is likely that you will qualify for some form of group health or other coverage through an insurance exchange.
In most cases, this is a good option. If employees need to go in for medical care and the cost suddenly skyrockets after they could reasonably be expected to pay it themselves, then the employer could be on the hook for paying for the treatment.
However, if you are truly self-employed, then you will have to find a health insurance provider who can provide you with the necessary coverage. Because you are not an employee, this means that you will have to buy your own insurance.
So how do you know if your company qualifies for coverage through an exchange? Read this article to learn all about the Self-Employed Health Care Tax Credit. You'll be able to find out if your business qualifies and what it will cost to buy coverage through an exchange.
There are other ways to save if you are self-employed. One is to open an HSA (health savings account). This is really a personal finance tool more than anything else, but it will help you by lowering your taxes and giving you more control over your medical expenses.
HSA's allow you to bank money on a tax free basis for medical expenses. And on top of that, you may even be able to use them for things like gym memberships, health food and vitamins! See this article for comprehensive list of HSA qualified expenses and how they can save you money. It may not be enough to cover the cost of insurance premiums, but it will certainly help when medical bills come due.
So, if you are self-employed, keep in mind that you will have to get your own health insurance. Take the time to familiarize yourself with all of your choices (check out the links above for a summary of the various options). But most important of all is to realize that by staying healthy and maintaining proper health care records, you will be able to stay healthy and not have to worry about treatments and procedures.
You may also want review your options if you are not self-employed. Even if you qualify for coverage through an employer, you may want to consider purchasing additional insurance so that if something goes wrong, it doesn't wipe out your savings account.
Do you have additional tips for being a healthy self-employed person? Share your insights in the comments section below!
Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruenebaum/4323480141/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/konstantin_oroshenko/5168908344/sizes (both accessed August 24, 2011)
Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Permissions: This article may not be republished without permission from the author, except where noted. You are welcome to reproduce and distribute this article in its entirety, provided you keep intact all copyright information. Please send questions, comments and corrections to [email protected]
Related articles by Zemanta:
http://www.zemanta.com/blog/how-to-save-money-on-your-insurance?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=feedly
http://www.zemanta.com/blog/health-insurance-for-non-employees?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=feedly
http://www.zemanta.com/blog/self-employed-healthcare?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=feedly
http://www.zemanta.com/blog/insurance-exchange?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=feedly
Advertisements
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Google
Like this: Like Loading...
Related Articles:
Comments
comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
RSS Subscribe Home Links to This Post RSS Subscribe Home Links to This Post RSS Tag Del.icio.us Feeds Donate About the Author Aileen Williams, MSW, LCSW is the last person you'd expect to gain insight into any issues related to self-employment! She saw a need for solution-oriented articles on self-employment and that's how The Self-Employed's Guide began. After giving birth she discovered her daughter had a wonderful sense of humor and it was then she decided to become a humor writer for Zemanta! Aileen has many years of experience in social work and counseling. She developed her own approach to counseling and realized that her approach could be very beneficial for a variety of issues. You can read more about her Self-Employed's Guide on LinkedIn and on Google+.
Conclusion
So, what do you do when it comes time to get health insurance? Are you going to seek out a provider who is willing to give you the coverage you need? Or are you going to look for a cheap insurance carrier and hope that it works for your needs?
The answer may be different for each person, but if I had just one piece of advice for anyone who was considering getting health insurance, it would be this: Do your research. There are options and resources available to help you make an informed decision about which kind of coverage will work best with your needs. After all, the situation with health care is changing every day.