How to Get Health Insurance When Youre Self Employed - Classy Career Girl

How to Get Health Insurance When Youre Self Employed One of the biggest reasons to procrastinate growing your business is that you are scared to quit your job. Its understandable. Theres lots of easy things about staying stuck in a job you hate like automatically getting paid, having your employer take care of your health insurance and not having to do push yourself to truly reach your potential and everything you are capable of. But, let me tell you a secret. Its just not worth it. If you have a dream of building a business, dont let these excuses stop you from pursuing your dream and making a difference in the world.  Its time to conquer your excuses and start moving forward. The first excuse you are probably battling is what to do about health insurance. This is the #1 reason why people stay stuck (and why my parents did not want me to quit my job). Things have changed though and as you can watch in the video below, its not a big deal to get your OWN health insurance and other benefits.  You can do this and still pay about the same as you were in corporate. Remember, you have ALWAYS been paying for your health insurance. Most likely your employer doesnt pay 100% but you just have never seen it come out of your bank account because it is AUTOMATIC. It’s not as crazy as you think. There are a few different ways to get health insurance as a new entrepreneur. (We are not experts, though, so please discuss your options with HR or a qualified benefits advisor!) Here are 3 ways to get health insurance  as a new entrepreneur: Option 1: Jump on your partner’s benefits. The fact that you no longer have health insurance is a life-changing event so you don’t have to wait until open enrollment to enroll in your partner’s benefits. You will just need to provide proof of the life-changing event to HR. For us, that was an email from my HR saying that my benefits would no longer be effective as of a certain date so I could jump onto my husband’s benefits! Option 2: You have access to COBRA. There is normally a 3-6 month time period where you can continue your employer’s benefits. You just pay an additional fee and get the same coverage you had while you were employed. This is not meant to be a long term solution, but rather a way to fill the gap between permanent coverage. Option 3: Review your options. If you live in the US, your next stop is to check out healthcare.gov.  This was way easier than we thought it would be. You fill out an application about your income, family members and date of birth. The site will tell you what benefits you are qualified for. At the end of the application, you can review your options and costs. You don’t have to wait until you quit to do this. We found that our costs were comparable to what you were paying when we were with our employers. (We were always paying this, but we just didn’t see it when the money came directly out of our paycheck!) It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur! Don’t worry!