Medical Insurance For The Self-Employed
Decreased government employment opportunities all over the world has pushed many people to be innovative and venture into self-employment in the fields of retail business, manufacturing business and in the service business.
Those in self-employment have continued to face unique challenges in finding appropriate medical insurance cover. The biggest challenge has been the ability to keep such insurance. This has been so because there has not been clear information on the availability of this type of medical insurance.
It is interesting to note that in the US, those in employment and are covered by employer-sponsored medical insurance extend the cover even after opting out of their employment for self-employment. Although the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, otherwise referred to as COBRA, gives ex-workers up to 18 months of cover upon leaving employment, some ex-employees take long to take out another medical insurance.
The long time taken by these employees in taking out medical insurance stems from lack of planning just before leaving employment. While they plan for other issues, they leave out medical insurance cover, just to realize later that is important as the other issues. It is important to know in advance what will happen with your medical insurance once the COBRA grace period ends.
One can easily switch from an employee-sponsored medical insurance to a private medical insurance. Most self-employed medical insurance policies envisage this scenario and have made adequate provisions to make the changeover process simple and easy.
It may happen that your spouse enjoys medical insurance coverage with another different employer at the time of you leaving employment. You have the advantage as you can decide to include your spouse in your cover at much cheaper premium quote. You also opt to take out your own medical insurance, in which case you will be charged normal premium.
Having self-employed medical insurance has several benefits that turn out to be good savings in the long run. Most governments throughout the world have enacted taxation laws that favour those with medical insurance. Those with medical insurance are generally allowed to deduct the cost of their medical insurance premiums from their taxable income.
Some medical insurance companies have certain criteria that a person who wants to take out self-employed medical insurance has to fulfill before the cover is provided. The ability to continuously pay the premium is assessed, coupled with the kind of self-employment one is involved in. Some insurance companies insist on such businesses being registered before extending the cover.
Self-employed medical insurance quotes are generally cheap but depend on some of the following factors:
a) Age: The age of the person taking out self-employment medical insurance determines partly the amount of premium he/she will be charged. The higher the age the higher the premium.
b) Type of self-employment: Self-employment that is exposed to dangers is likely to attract higher premium.
c) Lifestyle: A dangerous lifestyle on the part of the self-employed automatically attracts high premium.
As the number of people joining self-employment continues to grow, the number of those taking out medical insurance is also expected to grow. However, this is only possible if the information on the availability of such insurance is made available freely.
