As I mentioned before, I’m getting laid-off at the end of this month. I’m sure I’ll get a wonderful new gig eventually, but I may need to contract for a while. If I do that, the main worry for me is obtaining health insurance for my family. That’s not unusual, but my solution may be.
Small Business Quote
What I did is look into getting a quote through my new small business. It is a perfectly legitimate business now, we’re even modestly profitable already. I don’t think that’s a prerequisite, however. My company is a two-person operation, just my wife and me.
I got the quote online, through Costco’s Small Business services. They use different carriers for different states. In Oregon, they have two. Taking the best available plan, we’d pay approximately $650 per month for 80/20 PPO insurance with a $500 deductible. Add $100 for dental coverage.
I think that is incredibly reasonable! Actually, it is less than my insurance was from the last contract-house I worked for. The insurer is more reputable, too.
The really nice thing, really the icing on the cake, is that since it is employer-provided coverage, there is no qualification needed, unlike personal insurance.
What am I missing here?
I must be frighteningly ignorant, I know that. I’m missing something here. Why don’t more people do this rather than lose insurance? Because it is a bother to do estimated tax and the other company paperwork things? Really? Or is it the money? I don’t know when that switch got flipped for me, but really $650 per month seems very low to me. In fact, if a new company would give me the money they’d otherwise kick in for my insurance, I think I might just go with the Costco plan rather than the one they provide.
I’m feeling like I’ve been boondoggled for a long while, thinking that companies were providing much more of a benefit than they really were. Right now, I pay something like $350 a month extra for my family on my insurance through work. So that’s a giant $300 or $400 per month they are kicking in? That’s pathetic, and to think I’ve been worrying all this time that when I went solo I’d never have good health care again. Sheesh.
Please, help me figure out the “catch” here. I really don’t see it.
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