Benefits

[Stone]

Spouses benefits were mentioned in a different post recently. I am curious how the self-employed appraisers deal with benefits. My wife has good benefits (health/dental, etc.) which makes life easy. My brother, who would be an excellent appraiser, has not jumped into the profession, in part because due to some medical issues in our family, it is fairly important to have coverage.

I'm wondering if most people have spouses with benefits, or do you purchase your own insurance? If you purchase your own health insurance, where from? It seems like that would be somewhat prohibitive when going through training. I'm just curious how most people handle this. Thanks.

 

[Farm Gal]

Mike:

A great number of us lack insurance: we laughingly call ourselves 'self insured' and PRAY for good health.

Most appraiser families send one spouse out to get any kind of job providing benefits.

IF your family member has health issues he should shop very carefully and actually acquire a policy prior to leaving his existing position. Most folks with preexisting health concerns in the family are going to be uninsurable or find that the premiums are prohibitive to acquire even high deductable single owner policies.

Any quotes he receives are just that: QUOTES, and you generally have to pay the initial premium up front for medical underwriters to actually look at the potential policyholders. Until they actually issue the policy, the actual cost is not guarunteed. IF he elects to enter this profession, he should shop carefully and get actual copies of the policies to peruse. The exclusion lists on new writings are getting longer and longer.

Says the gal with the $4,500 deductable MSA policy for me and kid, cost per annum is $1,800. My benefit is that as long as kid and I stay healthy, is that I get to sock away $3750 a year away in an interest/earnings bearing tax free account. And THAT is MINE to keep, not the companies 8) .

But you can sign me as one with a 'self-insured' spouse :evil:
Healthy as a horse (today and for the last 15 years that I know of) Three trips to the doctor in that time period. Slightly overweight, moderately high blood pressure, over 50 and technically high risk: best quotes over last three + years run in excess of $680 per month for him alone!!! :roll:

 

[Mountain Man]

My wife is a teacher. Frankly, I don't know what we would do with out the state health insurance plan. I can't get that coverage for the $$ anywere else. We have a couple of retirement plans. One, again, is under my wife with state benifits. One is personal, and I have one with the state for being a small town firefighter (not much, but it helps).

 

[Travis McGee]

Insurance $$$ is my biggest concern about making the move. I've saved some bucks to help get started. I also signed up at my current job for AFLAK. Don't laugh yet! I get to take it with me when I go at the current group rate.(cheap) My hope is that this will help offset some costs of self insurance. I'll have to break alot of my families arms to see any real bucks! I think 60% of health premiums are deductable and next year it is supposed to be 80%. If it gets that bad, where I'm sinking, I'll figure something out. Night job with benefits. Hope not.

 

[Farm Gal]

Jim:
Night job: could be a problem, more and more companies are outsourcing their part time help, and that means NO bennnies!

Even the oens that do have some benefits tend to be charging accordingly: congrats: you have access to health ins: we'll just be taking back that paycheck but you gots benefits 8O ...

Very wise of you to grab that insurance before you leave, but check the fine print: the COBRA payments may be 3 to 5X what you pay as an employee!

 

[Travis McGee]

Lee Ann,

I'm only taking the AFLAK(supplemental insurance payable direct to me) with me when I go. The cobra costs are way to high to take the company health with me. I've done some research and am meeting again this week with insurance agent(s). I'm pretty sure I can get my family of four for around 500 a month. What I've been told by two agents with plan described. Haven't seen/signed any contract. All kinds of plans out there. Biggest factor is deductible, POS, HMO etc.

Thanks for the input,

Jim

 

[wyecoyote]

I had insurance at one time was running about $150 per month for single coverage. Now I don't have insurance and watching where I step at all times. However, currently I am waiting to see if I get my medical disability from the Military at 30% I get full coverage. Just have to pay for prescriptions.

Ryan

 

[Stone]

Thanks for the replies. My wife is also a teacher, which made the decision to become self employed a few years ago much easier. It was the major factor in my brother not going into the field last year.

Thanks again. I was curious how people handled this.

 

[Ed]

I'm a "Newbie" with only 8 months on the job under my belt. I too needed private health insurance. Celtic Care PPO try www.celtic-net.com I got personal private health insurance for about $100/month. Dental Insurance is covered under my wife's plan, but at least I have health coverage. I'll be honest, I haven't used this Insurance Plan yet (Knock On Wood). I'm sure, eventually I'll have a need to use it.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield at $516 a month with $25 co-pays and a $1,000 deductible per family member for a family plan. Four years ago, I paid $410 a month for a better plan with $500 deductible and $10 co-pay, but their constant increases (the same original plan would be over $800) have forcedme to reduce their "share" to deep the payment manageaable. Every year I hear how they are losing money and that $100 increase is coming. However, my wife will not let me switch because BC/BS pays their bills unlike many providers we had before.