Ask HN: For those of you self-employed, what is your health insurance?

I have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado, associated with a health savings account (HSA). It has worked well for me and I recommend that general route to other self-employed people, but man have the premiums shot up in the past few years. It was ~$80/month when I signed up (2005 or so, maybe). The same plan is now around $400/month.

For dental, I pay out of pocket but use a discount card (Vital Savings by Aetna). The discount card basically lets you pay the discounted rate that the insurance companies have negotiated with the dentist, which can be significantly lower.

I live in a country that will provide healthcare no matter what my income is. Pretty nifty, huh?

I'm of two minds on this thread. On one hand, I'm surprised at the poor quality of comments ("vitamins", "The government", etc). On the other hand, I sort of place it on the OP's shoulders due to the fact that he didn't list any domain/restriction on this incredibly generic question.

We are a diverse group here of 100+ countries. If you ask a generic question, you're going to get 100+ countries' worth of experiences. In a case like this, it's just not helpful to anyone to throw this question out to 100+ countries - what value is it to a Canadian what someone from Thailand pays for health insurance? Zero. What value is it to someone from England who has four kids and a spouse what a 20yr old American on his parents' insurance "pays"?

I wish this thread had been better. I'd love to know this information about my fellow USA HN'ers. Hopefully the next thread someone creates on this topic will be a bit more specific and we can have intelligent discussions.

You have to give more specific details (country/state,marital status etc.) before a reasonable answer can be provided. But to give you a general idea, being self employed in the US can cost anywhere from $100-$1000 per month depending on how kind of insurance you need/want with deductibles, co-insurance limits, out of pocket expenses, in-network vs. out-network etc.

If you want to do some comparisons for US, try http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

In my case, I use my wife's health insurance from her job and don't bother buying it myself.If I had to, it would probably cost me at least $500 per month.

My partner has a job in academia which can't pay the rent but includes full health and dental. Before we got together it was basically a $20/month high deductible catastrophic plan mixed with some prayer to FSM.

Those that do answer, please mention what country and/or State youre in as things different depending on your locale. Freelancers union for instance does not offer health insurance in california.

We did a HDHP at one point. Nowadays, the premiums are just too fucking high (~300-400 a month).

Have a spouse that can get good benefits.

I'm not self-employed, but I purchased my own insurance to cover a 6 month gap recently. I found that I could get reasonably priced health insurance as a member of ACM.

None! However, I will soon have an office job with good insurance and am very much looking forward to going to the dentist.

I'm Australian. I insure with BUPA, who have gobbled up the insurer who gobbled up my original insurer (Community Mutual). Because we have a public health system as a backstop, private health cover is a no-brainer in this country. I'm paying about $550 per quarter.

That said: one thing that annoys me about the Australian private health market is how dumb shit I get bundled in my payment.

I don't want a bloody reiki rebate. I'd rather you refunded my MRIs, thanks ("not an outpatient service").

Freelancers Union

The government.

To answer your stated question: My ex was career military. He spent more than 20 years in the army before retiring and we were married more than twenty years. Thus, as long as I don't remarry, I am technically entitled to free medical care for life through the military medical system. However, I never bothered to renew my military ID when it expired and I haven't seen a doctor in like six and half years, so it might be difficult or impossible for me to take advantage of those benefits. I don't really care.

To provide info that might be useful on the assumption that you are American and that what you really want to know is how to best take care of your needs: New laws mean some Americans can get covered under their parent's healthcare plan up until age 26, even if married. This isn't necessarily free, but for some people it opens up additional opitions they wouldn't otherwise have.

vitamins