Health Insurance for self employed in GA (how much, buy)

[dnc19694339]

What is available in GA for self employed people? Does the state subsidize anything for self employed?

Im still in NY and we have a program like this that has income thresholds, you can only make so much money to qualify. It still costs me $550/month for family coverage.

So does GA have anything like this? If not what would I be paying for a family plan?

[ATLTJL]

I don't know, but sometimes you can find professional groups that buy into health insurance.

I had a good friend who was a phycician and started his own practice. Yep, the irony......a physician without access to decent health insurance. It happens! He looked and looked, and finally found some kind of professional group, I forget what it was, like the southern physicians alliance, or something. It wasn't the AMA, it was some other group. Membership into the group was really cheap and membes were entitled to some group rate insurance they had arranged.

So maybe you can find a group like that you can join that does the same thing. That's all I really know of. I think you can also call the Georgia Insurance Commissioners office if you can't get insured and they will force someone to insure you, but I don't know if they have any influence over the premiums you can be charged.

[cwkimbro]

I buy my own directly from insurance companies, but I'm just an individual.... for now it isn't too expensive.

I once knew someone that had an illness that made his insurance rates go sky high... he ended up moving to NY just to get into a self-employed insurance group (for people in that industry), so he could have insurance.

Georgia isn't a state to go out of their way to help. They do a good job regulating that people get what they pay for and aren't pushed off insurance after getting sick (and had been paying for it previously).

They do a poor job of regulating rates from going too high after someone gets an expensive illness.

Hopefully, someone knows something I don't.


One thing is the new national Affordable Care Act starting next year will really start helping people on a large scale, depending on how much you make

Health Reform Subsidy Calculator - Kaiser Health Reform

It will be interesting to see how this works when it actually starts.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by dnc19694339

What is available in GA for self employed people? Does the state subsidize anything for self employed?

Im still in NY and we have a program like this that has income thresholds, you can only make so much money to qualify. It still costs me $550/month for family coverage.

So does GA have anything like this? If not what would I be paying for a family plan?

I am technically self-employed, although I don't own my own business or anything. I'm just a freelance guy who shows up to show sites when called.

I switched to my union insurance this year (better plan, less money), but before that, I had myself and my wife covered through Blue Cross Blue Shield. We had a $2500 deductible plan with a maternity rider, dental, vision, and even a life insurance rider...total cost for both of us was about $818 a month. When our son was born, it shot up to almost $1300 a month, which is what led me to go to my union plan.

[noah]

Check out places like Costco who has a deal with Aetna to offer coverage in some states.

[dnc19694339]

Thanks for the replies. I will have to look in to it more. Im in my 40s and dont want to go without when i move down.

[CMMom]

If you own a small business and run payroll, your payroll company may also offer coverage through their group plan. I use a company called Paychex and they offered this service.

[Mattie]

Last time we checked, the Costco program was not offered in GA. We found coverage through the state insurance board, Blue Cross PPO. For a family of 4 we are paying $995/month, with a family deductible of $5000.

[arjay57]

We get ours through a private insurance company and we do a $10.000 deductible to keep the premiums down. It's around $1300 a month but we are a little older and have had some health issues.

[dnc19694339]

Ouch! Those numbers hurt! guess im not going to get a deal like I have up here in NY.