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.

Technorati Tags: insurance, health insurance, costco, small business, entrepreneur

That might work, but I have a better idea. I think that so many managers are used to Powerpoint for presenting information rapidly, that a powerpoint version of your resume isn’t a ridiculous notion. I’ve never heard of anyone doing this, but I think it might be a great idea. I seriously do intend to try this the next time I am looking for a job. At the least, I think the manager would think “Hey, that’s the first time I’ve seen that“, which automatically gets the resume remembered. Not only that, but for my career (programmer), it would indicate that you are closer to thinking like a manager than most of my peers, who avoid that application at every turn. Alternatively, a Javascript-animated or Flash version of a presentation would be impressive to some managers, but I think it would be more work for little more impact, unless you are going for a design job.

Link: An interesting idea on getting your foot in the door

Technorati Tags: powerpoint, presentations, resume, flash