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Question for people who own a business and pay employee salaries

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shmokes:
Thanks for the info.  She told them her typical freelance rate is $50/hr, but that she would reduce it to $40/hr for a client giving her steady, full-time work.

ChadTower:

It's changing but for the worse.  Here in MA, where we have the Romney version 0.1 of Obamacare, part of the package was that insurers had to make affordable individually available plans.  MA now requires health insurance for all individuals or you have to pay a (surprisingly low) fine on your tax return.  The downside to those packages is that while the documented coverage is pretty good the process for approval of anything is so onerous that the plan is functionally useless except basic ER coverage.

When I was a contractor on my own I was paying $1500/month health insurance for my family.  I couldn't sustain that so I ended up working for a contract agency.  That limits your options because they raise the rate about 50% and keep the extra cash in return for the lousy benefits they give you and the W2 processing.  Their health insurance was expensive, but acceptable, while every other benefit was either stupid or had contradictory rules that made them impossible to use.

MonMotha:
Individuals are pretty much going to be limited to high deductible plans in the USA.  Individual premiums on $3000 deductible plans seem to run about $100-200/mo depending on coverage provided and total yearly max out of pocket.  Obviously add more for full family coverage (you do get a SLIGHT discount on the per-person as you add peeople due to risk pooling).  No lifetime max on these, anymore; Obamacare did away with that.  Many states also force the insurers to not exclude pre-existing conditions if you can show a few years (varies by state) of continuous past coverage.

$3000 may seem like a high deductible, but you'll hit it instantly in the event of a hospitalization or other major event.  The rest you just figure you're paying for your own basic healthcare.  It really is *insurance* against major, unexpected events, not a managed healthcare system.  You would also be eligible to establish an HSA, where you can drop a fair chunk of change (I believe equal to your yearly deductible, but check with a tax professional) each year tax free, kinda like an IRA.  The money in the account can be spent on just about anything health related from paying your insurance deductible (but NOT the premium - however you can deduct that on your tax return separately if self employed) to buying band-aids.

drventure:
What's really annoying about the high deductible plans is that providers charge one set of rates when you pay cash, and a totally different set of rates (usually significantly less) when you go through an insurer.

And don't even get me started on that whole "Pre-existing conditions" non-sense.  :angry:

If you go to your doctor for a cold, then try to apply for insurance a month later, you could get denied coverage.  And if you don't disclose your visit to the doctor and they find out, they'll revoke coverage. I believe some of those rules changed with the health bill as well, but still.

MonMotha:
The network/insurance rate for an office visit with my doctor is actually slightly LOWER than the cash rate.  The statement I receive discloses both rates, and I've confirmed them with the office staff.  This is in general true of cash payers vs. those with "insurance".  They bill the cash payers more (at least initially, you can and always should attempt to negotiate since the insurers do) since they 1) are less likely to pay, and 2) have less bargaining power.

(Even with a high deductible plan, you pay the "insured" negotiated rate, just just pay ALL of it until you hit your deductible)

As for "preexisting conditions", they're not supposed to act like you described, though I'm sure many do.  They're supposed to exclude things that are actually related to a preexisting condition (and they're often pretty broad in determining what's "related"), but you should not be denied coverage for an infected toe because you saw your doctor for a cold 3 months ago.  Doesn't mean that your insurer won't TRY, but they're not supposed to do it.  Of course, they can always decide not to offer coverage in the first place for any reason.  You're not their customer yet, and they have no obligations.  If you live in a state that prohibits exclusions based on preexisting conditions and meet the requirements necessary, none of that should be a problem, though.

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