My last day with my company is June 10. I am covered through the VA due to my service connected disability rating but I need to find health coverage for my wife and son. She doesn't have coverage as a travel nurse.

How are you guys who are self-employed or contractors getting health coverage?

Tony.

GOOD LUCK! The individual health insurance market is not viable. Try and find a group policy. Many organizations have group health insurance for members. Look to pay over one thousand per month for decent coverage. Lacking that Obama Care which basically sucks. Travel nurses are in a bind. If she worked for a hospital or large medical center she could likely get at. Is there some organization for locum tenens nurses??

Any chance of getting COBRA coverage from your ex-employer? If available, that could be your simplest option.

There is always 'the Exchange' https://www.healthcare.gov where you can get a look at other options.

I did that for a few years, but found the options were limited. I went up checking out my local Blue Cross affiliate (BCBSNC) and found they had a myriad of better, if pricier, plans that were not offered through 'the Exchange' and I changed to one of those.

quote:

Any chance of getting COBRA coverage from your ex-employer? If available, that could be your simplest option.

This until you find coverage elsewhere, so you don't gap coverage. Won't be inexpensive since your employer won't have to pick up their portion, you will be paying full monthly premium amount.

When I was self-employed, and this was 5+ years ago, I went with Kaiser, I believe I was paying $525/month...I can't image what it is today.

Coworker is retiring on May 1st. He's going to go on the city's plan/cobra. It's going to cost him $2400/month for family coverage.

Cobra is awfully expensive. I remember the early 2000s paying $900 a month for the “benefit”.

I have not tried them, but there are non-traditional Christian healthcare plans. May be worth looking into.

https://www.christianhealthcareplan.com/

https://www.chministries.org/

It is time limited as well.{Cobra}.

Insurance Broker .

I knew I was losing my job and contacted an agent who dealt with health insurance. He could get me a decent plan for just under $600/month. I opted to get COBRA through my company for convenience and known coverage. I elected the "bronze" plan which covers everything the better plans do, but deductible is higher. That costs $697/month.

Yes, COBRA last for 18 months. When it's up, I'll need a bridge plan to cover me for four months til I turn 65.

Talk to HR, get COBRA rates for all of the available plans. They must provide this upon request.

BEFORE quitting see if you can switch to the most suitable (cheapest??) plan for your family. If you are out of the enrollment window, this may be a problem, not sure. Quitting may be an event which allows you to change plans, dunno.

Then at least you have COBRA in your back pocket with the understanding that you can enroll / unenroll anytime in the next 18 months (unless the rules have changed). This gives you options.

If possible put a huge shitload of money in an HSA or similar plan so you can use it for rather high insurance premiums. then it's at least pre-tax, including Kate's Oregon taxes .

If all else fails, then you can try what I did 25 years ago --- join IEEE, which you can do based on your present employer. enroll in their group insurance. again that was 25 years ago, but I see they still offer group insurance. It was my best choice 25 years ago, but 25 years is a while back. I also managed to have some new dependents since then which I did not have when I enrolled

We are on Christian Health Ministries, CHMinistries.org and like it a lot.

COBRA for us would have been 2x what we'd paid before I retired. It runs out in 18 months, so it is a decent stop-gap in that it does cover pre-existing conditions. But expensive! For us, $20k out of pocket before it would cover anything. About $1200/month premiums.

Here in Utah, insurance from local companies worked out to be the same price as COBRA.

On the ObamaCare exchanges it gets complicated. Essentially, the local companies offer the same plans on the exchange as you could buy direct from them. But on the exchange the prices are jacked up about 50%. Then there is a tax credit you get from the IRS which is based on your last year taxable income. For us the tax credit at best brought the price down to the same as if we'd bought direct from the insurance company. If your taxable income is low, the exchange can provide very cheap costs.

There are brokers who can help you navigate the ridiculously complex assortment of plans on the exchange. Free to you to use.

We pay $450/month for our coverage, which is the full up everything plan with CHM. That's for two of us. It isn't insurance per se, but is a reimbursement cost sharing group. You pay the provider directly, then submit the bill to CHM who reimburse minus copay. Copay is $500 for each medical event. No in or out of network. Emergency room for a broken leg = $500 deductible. Annual physical at your doc = $500 deductible. Multi-organ transplant = $500 deductible.

Note that except for COBRA, no plan will cover preexisting conditions. CHM has an exclusion period of 2 years, but there is a possibility of getting it at least partially covered.

CHM has a few religious exceptions, such as not covering unwed pregnancies or terminations. Two unmarried people in a household cannot be covered on the same plan. Stuff like that.

Thanks! We're Christians, so we'll look into that.

We move to FL 6 days after my last day at work.

Tony.

I use the VA, like you. Wife and kids are covered from our savings account. We couldn't find anyone to cover them for under $2,000 a month...and that was crap coverage with high deductibles.

We self insure. We can afford several ER visits, broken bones, stitches, and even minor surgeries before coming close to the cost of paying $2,000 a month plus a $5,000 deductible and then 50% co-pays... Most doctors will give you a steep discount for cash. I even found a dentist who'll exchange trades of professional services.

We buy our prescriptions with cash at walmart and the wife utilizes community womens health programs for yearly labs to keep the anti-crotch demon pills flowing.

Another popular choice for health Co-ops is

https://samaritanministries.org/

We have friends and fellow missionaries who've used them with mostly positive results.

I suppose I will retire some day just like I will die. I hope it is like JMB at his workbench. I endeavor to be healthy independent of our current system as much as possible.

The Direct Primary Care model is growing. De-prescribing seems is the future.

I'll probably be looking for something like this around 2032

https://www.thegoldenstethoscope.com/services/

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
She doesn't have coverage as a travel nurse.

Some of the travel agencies are actual W-2 employers offering benefits including health insurance and 401K. I know CompHealth used to be that way and I think still is. Great outfit.

^^^^^^^^^^
That makes sense. With all the demand these days for travel nurses it seems to be good business.

Hello!

Following as I left the public sector a year ago and now I’m in private practice.

Thank you!

Jim he