Health Care Insurance for the Private Business Owner

[M.D. Holloway]

For those of you that have your own business and are not retired military, what health care insurance provider do you use?

[wdfifteen]

We have United Health Care. We are locate in Ohio.

[911michael]

I no longer work for myself but when I had a business (S corp), I acquired health insurance for my company (one employee) through a local insurance broker. Every year, the lady who handled that would provide me with a list of available plans and I would pick one for the coming year.

Mine was through BCBS and was about the same as any health insurance plan I've had as an employee, with co-pays and deductibles. It was classified as a "group policy", although my company was a "group" of just one employee.

That was before the ACA was passed so I don't know if things can still work that way. If your business isn't incorporated, this option might not apply.

[Nickshu]

In Colorado we only have two choices now. They are both crappy HMOs. One is Kaiser and the other is Anthem. Only larger businesses have access to the good PPO plans we had until last year. All the others have left the state as our healthcare system/state exchange is imploding under the weight of the ACA/Obamacare. Regardless how you feel about the ACA politically, anything has to be better than what we have now, at least from a small business owners perspective. For this year almost all of my 16 employees have opted out of the health plan b/c the premiums and deductibles are sky high, even for the few crappy plans we have access to now. It's sad to see what the ACA has done to health insurance in our state.

[impactbumper]

In TX, we only had oscar, and BCBS. In 2016 we had better options, and were with Humana. Humana is not available anymore. ACA screwed us over bad.

[berettafan]

married a teacher.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by berettafan

married a teacher.

[berettafan]

I tell you what it has surely made my life as a self employed person SOOOO much easier! I don't know how people do it otherwise.

[red-beard]

BCBSTX - individual policy. This is a grandfathered plan, pre-ACA. It has tripled the premium from the end of 2009 to the end of 2016. The ACA cheapest plans were always more expensive.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by 911michael

I no longer work for myself but when I had a business (S corp), I acquired health insurance for my company (one employee) through a local insurance broker. Every year, the lady who handled that would provide me with a list of available plans and I would pick one for the coming year.

Mine was through BCBS and was about the same as any health insurance plan I've had as an employee, with co-pays and deductibles. It was classified as a "group policy", although my company was a "group" of just one employee.

That was before the ACA was passed so I don't know if things can still work that way. If your business isn't incorporated, this option might not apply.

The answer is, no, it does not work that way anymore. In Soviet America, you have a choice of 1 or 2 insurance companies and 3 healthcare plans, all very expensive.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by berettafan

I tell you what it has surely made my life as a self employed person SOOOO much easier! I don't know how people do it otherwise.

So true. ACA has made it nearly impossible for small business in CA. I used to offer HI to my employees and I covered 50% of the premium. It was a decent PPO plan that ran about $150/mo. When ACA came in the rates jumped to $450/mo with worse coverage. I can't do that anymore. My employees can get coverage much cheaper on their own so I offer a HC allowance toward their premiums instead.

I married an X-ray tech who works in a major medical center. The HI policy is excellent and dirt cheap to employees and family.

[kach22i]

Insurance though my wife's work, would be screwed otherwise.

[cashflyer]

BCBS, and what James said.

[SpyderMike]

HI has been a ***** forever, not just after ACA, in my experience. We had to change plans yearly as costs were constantly going up significantly year to year. We shopped it through a local broker yearly. I no longer have employees and only use a personal plan.

[dafischer]

My wife and I are partners in our business. We have a Group Policy through the Business (not incorporated) for the two of us with Horizon BCBSNJ. We picked it up from a broker recommended to us by one of our business clients. It's spendy at $1,700 per month for the two of us, but it's a "Gold" plan with very low copays and deductibles. We still have the same PCP's we've always used, which is a real plus. We previously (until last December) had a Group Policy with AmeriHealth, however they raised our premium from $1,600 to $2,100 for renewal, so we shopped with our broker and found the current plan.

The options are out there.

[Dan J]

I have a company plan from Anthem through a broker
I cover my employees they pay for their families. It's very expensive however
my son just had a health problem that cost 7 figures and they didn't blink
I can no longer ***** about the cost

[74-911]

Originally Posted by SpyderMike

HI has been a ***** forever, not just after ACA, in my experience. We had to change plans yearly as costs were constantly going up significantly year to year. We shopped it through a local broker yearly. I no longer have employees and only use a personal plan.

My experience exactly with providing HI for our "C" corp. employees from 1978 - 2004.
We used a local broker to research available plans and changed plans, coverages, etc. fairly regularly to keep costs down. When we started in 1978 we provided full coverage for employee and family with a low deductible plan. When we sold the business in 2004 we paid for coverage for the employee only (employee picked up tab for family) and deductibles were way up.

Anyone who thinks HI costs were low and only went up when Obamacare came along is clueless.. Providing good HI for employees was always a major challenge and meeting with the broker was something we dreaded every year as there was never good news.

[CurtEgerer]

I'm really happy with mine. Except for the $18,000 deductible. And the $450 per week premium. Thanks ACA!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by red-beard

BCBSTX - individual policy. This is a grandfathered plan, pre-ACA. It has tripled the premium from the end of 2009 to the end of 2016. The ACA cheapest plans were always more expensive.

I left the corporate world back in '08...had a BCBS-NC individual policy for several years. I'm a total freeloader now I reckon...I was tired of paying BCBS thousands annually....I pay up to 7.5K per year before my subsidized ACA policy kicks in. No easy answers....I tend to like Foxy's approach....ducking !!!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by 74-911

.....

Anyone who thinks HI costs were low and only went up when Obamacare came along is clueless.. Providing good HI for employees was always a major challenge and meeting with the broker was something we dreaded every year as there was never good news.

^^^^ This. When I left BCBS group coverage, my individual policy was much lower...my $ paid for others' care and BCBS "guaranteed" profits. And letting BCBS cross state lines will make "too big to fail" banking seem like a great idea .