small business owners health insurance

[texas_online]

for all you business owners whats the best health insurance you recommend for 2-3 people in the business?

[scootro]

health insurance! whats that?

[Sleeper]

It sucks and expensive. I just called around and got what was best for me. Also what I Could afford.

Depending on what you do for a living it can ve wrote off your taxes.

[STRONGNUFF]

Be prepared to pay out the ass ! I pay 1,400 a month for my wife, child and myself. Fucking crooks. BCBS of Texas BTW

[dcs13]

Not going to be worth it when the Obama care stuff kicks in. Much cheaper to pay the "penalty" or "tax" or wtf Justice Roberts settled on.

[Samhain]

See if you can find other small businesses that are in the same boat. We use to co-op like this when we didn't have enough employees to get decent rates.

[8mpg]

Be prepared to pay out the ass ! I pay 1,400 a month for my wife, child and myself. Fucking crooks. BCBS of Texas BTW

Crooks? Self insure yourself for $1400 a month and see how far you get with a hospital stay

[STRONGNUFF]

Crooks? Self insure yourself for $1400 a month and see how far you get with a hospital stay

That's why I reluctantly pay it for the (just incase factor).

[GrayStangGT]

Crooks? Self insure yourself for $1400 a month and see how far you get with a hospital stay

Granted its a gamble, but in reality a lot of times you would be better off putting the money back into a safe investment and then negotiating with the hospital for the bill. In my experience they will negotiate the bill down by 40-60% when you have cash money. I grew up with my Dad owning a small business and paying crazy insurance premiums. If he would have done this(he actually wanted to, but my mom wouldn't let him) he could have paid for every surgery etc any of the 4 of us have ever had and be hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead right now. As long as you don't end up with cancer or something crazy expensive that is.

With that being said I now work for the business and we can't afford to insure our employees beyond workers comp that it is. I pay out of pocket for BCBS, since I'm younger and single it isn't too expensive yet.

[Stephen]

I pay 125 a month for blue cross.. office visits are 25, specialists are 35, but my deductible blows at 5k

[centexchick]

If the cost is high to go on your own, try the National Association of the Self-Employeed (NASE). When we looked into it 8 years ago the costs were not that unreasonable.

[Treasure Chest]

Granted its a gamble, but in reality a lot of times you would be better off putting the money back into a safe investment and then negotiating with the hospital for the bill. In my experience they will negotiate the bill down by 40-60% when you have cash money. I grew up with my Dad owning a small business and paying crazy insurance premiums. If he would have done this(he actually wanted to, but my mom wouldn't let him) he could have paid for every surgery etc any of the 4 of us have ever had and be hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead right now. As long as you don't end up with cancer or something crazy expensive that is.

In May, my oldest needed an echocardiogram. The day before, the hospital called to get my insurance information. I told her that we were cash pay, and I wanted to negotiate the bill up front. Her response was, "The insurance rate is $2800 plus the report fee of $500. Because you're paying cash, if you pay tomorrow in full, the total price is $200."

Let's break that down. I would pay about $800/mo for a family plan with a $2500 deductible with a 20% copay. So 800+2500= $3300

That still leaves me paying 20% on $800, which is $160. For the bargain price if $3460, I could have paid for his echo with insurance.

No thanks, I'll gladly negotiate my cash prices.

[66n2ocoupe]

To self insure is a tough gamble. I'm self employed 13 years now and paid $550 to start and currenlty $807 through BCBS for four people. I agree about it being cheaper to negotiate but consider this. Look at the statistics for getting cancer in your life. I did not think it could happen to me but it did and thank God I did not have to negotiate on $17K per chemo treatment plus $3K per radiation treatment. Granted I could have paid significantly less by negotiating but guess what... you are uninsurable for the rest of your life after cancer.

Once you are married and have kids you need health coverage of somekind, even if it is only a catestrophic policy. Cancer, car wreck, fall off the roof putting up Christmas lights who knows what is going to happen.

[turbostang]

I'm likely going to open a shop in the new year - this very topic is one of my major pitfalls.

[Treasure Chest]

To self insure is a tough gamble. I'm self employed 13 years now and paid $550 to start and currenlty $807 through BCBS for four people. I agree about it being cheaper to negotiate but consider this. Look at the statistics for getting cancer in your life. I did not think it could happen to me but it did and thank God I did not have to negotiate on $17K per chemo treatment plus $3K per radiation treatment. Granted I could have paid significantly less by negotiating but guess what... you are uninsurable for the rest of your life after cancer.

Once you are married and have kids you need health coverage of somekind, even if it is only a catestrophic policy. Cancer, car wreck, fall off the roof putting up Christmas lights who knows what is going to happen.

I could do like the rest of the deadbeats and just go to the ER whenever I need seen and walk away without paying my bill. Isn't that what Obamacare promises? That I'll be taken care of and life will be peachy?