| Health insurance rate increases and the effect on the self-employed By signahealthinc.com The self-employed in our Country are facing a crisis today as they try to provide affordable and quality health insurance for themselves and their loved ones. Health insurance carriers are raising premiums at an average of 12% or more each year, some as high as 30% in a single year. While the cost rising annually is a problem in and of itself, there are potential problems that are not as obvious but just as frightening and maybe even more so. As the cost of a health insurance plan rises to the point that it has reached or exceeded the self-employedıs budget, he/she is left with three choices. 1) They can switch the insurance carrier for another with a lower rate. This can be time consuming. Many people are getting their insurance through a broker that offers all the major carriers in their State. That is one stop shopping at itıs best and is highly recommended, because it will limit you to making only one phone call. Let your broker do the work. Keep the same benefits for less money and you win. 2) They can reduce the benefits of their current plan by increasing the deductible, removing co-pays or raising the maximum out of pocket. This is a trade off and nothing more. Reducing premium costs (monthly expense) in exchange for higher usage costs (medical expenses). If you donıt use the plan you win. If you have medical claims you lose, but not much! 3) They can simply take a chance and go without health insurance and hope that nothing happens. This is the worst possible decision they can make. It leaves them at the mercy of Murphyıs Law and vulnerable to the cost of a serious medical condition. This scenario has destroyed many people both financially and emotionally. To add insult to injury, once a person has a medical condition and decides that they health insurance again the carriers can and will rate the condition (charge an extra premium to cover the condition), rider the condition (not cover the condition or itıs medications) or consider the condition uninsurable (decline to cover the person at all). Uninsurable people may be able to get coverage through their State risk pool program if one exists. These tend to be expensive and often have serious limits on coverageıs. Donıt let this happen to you or your Family!
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