When it comes to insuring yourself, the cost of self employment may seem a whole lot harder to bear. Is it possible to have both?
If you’re self employed, you’re going to have to think about insuring yourself. It isn’t enough that you already employ yourself - you have to see to all the necessary details, too. But providing your own health care is no easy feat.
The Cost of Self Employment
Self employment means finding (and completing) work, filing your own taxes (which can be a miserable undertaking) and taking care of yourself as far as breaks and vacations are concerned. But it also means paying. You pay for your taxes, you pay for your own supplies and equipment…and you pay for your own health care.
Insuring Yourself
Even when you’re self employed, chances are you were employed for someone else at some point in your life. You’re familiar, then, with employer-based health care. You pay a small weekly stipend and get gifted with full health care - including dental, vision, 401k, who even knows what else. Why should it be any different now that you’re employing yourself?
Because you only have one employee - you. When businesses purchase health care packages, they buy a large number of policies. You, however, will be purchasing one policy. And now, the cost of self employment is going to get much bigger.
Individual health care policies are different from employer-based policies in two ways: first, they offer much less care at much higher deductibles; second, they are much more expensive.
Cutting Down Costs
Shop around for health care when it’s time to think about insuring yourself. Get quotes, compare rates and realistically look at options to lower the cost without sacrificing care. Choose a plan you can afford easily…then choose a plan even cheaper than that. Insuring yourself is not a burden, but a joy, a sign of freedom and independence. It is, however, an expensive bill.
