When it comes to health insurance access, freelancers often face restrictions and challenges that other professionals don’t. That’s especially true when they are launching a brand new venture and don’t have a proven financial record behind them.
Health insurance is on everyone’s minds today, and for good reason. No one wants to be stuck paying out of pocket after a medical emergency. But freelancers of all kinds have traditionally been shut out of the health insurance market through no fault of their own.
The reason comes down to how the health insurance market works.
The majority of people in America who are covered by health insurance get it through their workplace. In fact, businesses of all kinds with at least 50 employees are required to offer health insurance. They work with insurers on a nearly equal footing because of their significant buying power.
The larger an enterprise is, the easier it is to find health insurance plans at affordable rates.
The situation is reversed for freelancers. Large health insurance agencies just aren’t set up to deal with individuals directly. Many give no option to do so. In fact, negotiating with an individual would subject some of the largest insurers to far more overhead than they could earn back on the policy.
That leaves freelance professionals out in the cold, even if they are making a great deal of money (or on their way to doing so). For a freelancer who is getting established and doing the hard work of building a business, there have been almost no options for personal health insurance.
But that all changes starting now.
A Local Health Insurance Broker Helps You Discover Your Health Insurance Options
Freelancers hoped their insurance situation would improve with the introduction of the Affordable Care Act. And while some people are highly satisfied with the options they find on the ACA marketplace, others don’t feel these policies meet their needs – or those of their family members.
Freelancers tend to prize flexibility. They want a chance to make their own decisions about their health insurance coverage. It doesn’t hurt to be able to extend coverage to a spouse, children, or other family members, either. So, what is the alternative any freelancer can use?
You can expand your options by working with a local health insurance broker.
A health insurance broker is an independent insurance professional. They gather information on all health insurance policies available in a given area. It’s important that a health insurance broker be local since policy options are frequently anchored by zip code or other geographic factors.
By developing a high level of specialized expertise, your broker may be able to inform you about dozens of unexpected options you never knew you had. That’s because there are actually many different organizations that can provide health insurance.
Nonprofits, industry associations, local community organizations, faith groups, and lots of others all have the potential to provide health insurance for their members. That said, they typically don’t advertise to the public, so there would be hardly any ways to find out about them on your own.
You might think you need to be a member of a particular group to take advantage of such options, but this isn’t usually the case. An organization might have been founded with one group in mind, but will often grant health insurance coverage to anyone who applies.
Each member they add to their rolls boosts their buying power, helping everyone.
When you are trying to compare health insurance on your own, you might find yourself looking at conventional health insurance agencies. Insurance agents aren’t in it to help you – their only goal is to make a sale. That’s one reason why getting accurate information on health insurance is so hard.
A health insurance broker knows what insurance agencies offer inside and out, but maintains no sales quotas with any insurer. That means your broker can work with you, based on your specific needs, to find exactly the options that work for you. That might not even involve an insurance agency at all!
Freelancers, Don’t Go It Alone on Health Insurance
As a freelancer, you may be used to “wearing many hats.” As useful as it is to be versatile, there are times when you need to connect with the right advisor.
That starts with a simple phone call to Choice Health Insurance Brokers. We will be glad to learn about your needs and walk you through the options that might appeal to you.
Contact us today to get started.