Advice Needed on Self-Employed/Small Business Health Care

Diana in Wisconsin | April 25, 2005 | Diana

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Does anyone have experience with Health Insurance for the self-employed and/or a small business? We are starting a LLC and will have three employees to start. DH & I need health insurance, and I'm not sure who to trust. My regular insurance agent's company does not cover healthcare for small businesses. I have looked at Humana, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Golden Rule so far. Any experience or opinions on those companies?

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Freepers!

[passionfruit]

Look for an agent that specializes in business/commercial insurance. Too bad I'm in California, or I could help you. An agent that specializes in business insurance should be able to get you a group plan and should be able to show you proposals for several different carriers, and explain the benefits and drawbacks of the various plans. Theyshould also be able to help you with Workers Comp.

Good Luck.

[Cagey]

There are supposed to be some new regulations allowing Self Employed people to pool so they can purchase at group rates. It hasn't happened yet to my knowledge, but should soon.

You may also contact any associations related to the type of business you are in as sometimes they allow members to purchase on their group plan.

Good luck with your new company!

[duck duck goose]

I ran into insurance issues when I started my company and when I got engaged. My fiances' deductibles are outrageous, and I really didn't know who to turn to. Here are a few options for you. Good luck.


http://www.nasro-co-op.com/health/small_business.shtml
http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ehi/index.html

[bvw]

I just tried to change my own SE family policy (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) to a lower-cost one -- after the policy just went up again. I talked to a agent who does most of his business over the internet whom I've dealt with before. He said it is very bleak right now, that many small businesses and self-employeds are going bare. In his own state, Maryland, the recent price schedule for a small business policy (6 employees) cost $22,000 a year for a family of two over-50's, a little less for a single.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, Thank you all! I knew someone here would know what was up. Thanks for the links; that's tomorrow's project. Right now we have a Catastrophic Policy to cover us in a real emergency, but we need to be insured by the first of June.

We're starting a Computer Sales and Service company. My DH & his friend have 30 years of experience together in the field, as MCSE's and all sorts of other things, and have great contacts and connections...plus there's no other service like ours in the area, so the field is wide open for home users and small businesses in the area. The timing was right for all of us to do this.

We started the LLC as a Woman Owned enterprise, so we could take advantage of some of those grant perks (because women are so helpless, don't you know? /sarcasm) and my friend and I can joke that we rent out our husbands at $80/hour, LOL!

Thanks again! Any other links or pro & con experiences with specific companies will be greatly appreciated. :)

[RMDupree]

I work for a PEO/Payroll company which provides a variety of services to small to medium size businesses.

I would definitely call a few and find out if they take on companies with 3 employees to start. Using a PEO means that you are in essence pooling with other companies to get discounted health insurance, as well as, take advantage of the payroll, 401k and human resources angle in your business at the same time.

ADP Totalsource
Gevity
Paychex

The list goes on and on....

Call and find out! Can't hurt to check it out and as you get bigger, you can renegotiate your terms and get better rates.

[duck duck goose]

Do a search for women owned buiness groups in your area..they may be able to help as well.

[Cagey]

This is not related to insurance, but it is related to Small Business. There is an internet service called PayCycle that can do all your payroll including Federal and State Filing. It is very much like PayChex, but it is internet only and very economical. I found them through Microsoft Money.

In case you are interested, check out:

www.paycycle.com

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks, Cagey, but I'm a Peachtree user. I used to do payroll & A/P & A/R using their software years ago and surprisingly, it's all coming back to me now, LOL!

Thanks again, everyone. This is my project for the day. I know it's not going to be easy, but at this point, until we have better cashflow, I'm going to have my DH pull in the salary, and my "pay" will be the health insurance coverage for us.

Yep. Sure shows you up close and personal as to how bleak things are out there. People like me are a perfect niche for this stuff...they must not yet have found a way to make insuring us profitable. *Rolleyes*