Health Insurance Articles

Small business owners face a lot of difficulties in running their business.  Paying for health insurance, or not being able to even afford coverage due to the rising costs, is one of them.   If you are a small business owner you may have had health insurance while working as en employee that was provided in whole or part by your employer.  When you quit your job to start your business, you may have used COBRA to extended your health insurance coverage for as long as 18 months.  But you may be wondering what to do now if your current health insurance is about to expire or has already expired.

One possibility is using the same insurer to obtain an individual health insurance policy.  You should at least check to see if maybe they can offer you a good rate.  Checking with them will at least give you pricing that you can use when comparing it with other health insurance policies from other insurance companies to make sure you get the best coverage and rates.

Most likely your former employer offered health insurance for their employees by taking advantage of a group insurance plan.  With group plans usually the employer pays part of the plan costs and the employees pay the remainder.  How much you had to pay would have depended on whether or not you were just insuring yourself or your family as well.  The number of members that were a part of your group plan would have also factored into how much your costs were.  Overall costs of a group plan are spread out across all the members.

For large companies, group insurance is affordable.  However for small companies that cost may be prohibitive.  This is a tough situation for many small businesses.  In order to compete for good employees with other businesses, one of the incentives you need to offer employees is a health insurance plan.  However, if there are 50 employees or fewer in your business, there are not as many employees for spreading overall costs around.  For this reason, group insurance plans usually are not a workable solution for a majority of small businesses.

There is a solution that is more affordable for small businesses and single owners to make sure that funds are available to pay for health care expenses.  The option is a health care savings account for small businesses and individuals.  This combines a non-taxable savings account that is used to pay for health care expenses with a health plan carrying a high deductible.

There are a few good reasons why health savings accounts are becoming more popular with employers and small business owners.  Contributions to the health care savings account are not taxed, and the money withdrawn out of the savings account to pay qualifying health care costs is not taxed either.  The savings account is owned by the individual, and even moves with them if they leave and go to work for a different employer.  If there is any money left over at the end of the year, it stays in the savings account and continues to accrue tax free interest.  Employers are able to contribute to their employees health savings account without having to pay payroll taxes on the contributions.  When an individual retires, taxes are paid on the withdrawals but at much lower tax rates than on traditional IRAs.  Individuals can use money in a health savings account for other expenses besides health care costs.  However there is a 15% penalty if the money is not used for health care expenses.  However, there may be times such as when an emergency or unforeseen circumstance arises when paying the penalty may be worth it.

Health savings accounts, just like other types of health insurance plans, will vary from provider to provider.  You need to be sure you completely understand how one works before you agree to open an account and deposit money.  It is possible for the small and single business owner to have affordable health insurance.  Everyone should have health insurance if at all possible.

The coverage and debates that lead up to the U.S. presidential election have generated quite a bit of discussion regarding universal health care.  A majority of developed nations in the world already provide their citizens with state-sponsored health care.  Despite the fact that its use is widespread, the concept of universal health care is still controversial.

Most of Canada, Europe, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Australia, Greenland as well as other countries have some type of universal health care.  All of these plans do work in different ways, but what they have in common is that the entire population is insured.  The first country to offer universal health care to its citizens was the United Kingdom.

16% of the U.S. gross domestic product goes toward paying for health care.  However 16% of the country’s citizens were uninsured in 2007.  There are many individuals who are covered by government-sponsored health care programs that are designed to offer medical care to the elderly, children and the poor.

The United States is the only developed country that does not have universal health care.  There is huge debate or whether or not government sponsored health care should be enacted.  Massachusetts recently made it a mandate that its citizens must purchase health care.  The Commonwealth offers a discounted plan.  There are other states that are seriously considering similar types of measures.

Those individuals who view health care as a fundamental and basic human right strongly support universal health care.  They make the argument that a healthy and strong population benefits the country both economically and domestically.  Many see universal health care as a way to unburden businesses from having to insure employees.

Those that support universal health care also state that it helps to develop better medical technology and stronger medical infrastructure.  They cite life expectancy and mortality rate statistics from countries that have universal health care in place to back up their claims.

Opponents of universal health care tend to view it as socialist philosophy.  They proclaim that the costs are tremendous and would end up falling on the government which would result in further mismanagement of the country’s money and provide very little benefit.  Some individuals want to shrink the size and reach of the federal government and believe that universal health care would only increase the size of the an already mammoth bureaucracy.

Other arguments against universal health care are made in terms of the quality of health care.  Some individuals believe that a free market results in quality care at low prices.  They are afraid that institutional care might result in poor care and that an influx of individuals looking to avail themselves of limited resources would contribute to that poor care as well as long waiting periods.  There are others that worry that what they call socialized medicine would result in preventative health measures and higher taxes on things like tobacco and alcohol.

Whether you are for or against universal health care, there can be no arguing that it is very common throughout the entire world.  Perhaps the debate whether to have universal health care or not comes down a question of whether or not health care is a basic human entitlement or right.

Every government and its citizens must answer this question for themselves.  It is a certainty that this question will be debated for sometime to come in the United States.

Do you know what would happen to your family if suddenly you had a stroke, or heart attack, or were diagnosed with cancer and were not able to work?  Many people assume that all medical costs due to a catastrophic illness will be covered by their health insurance.  However, the fact of the matter is few traditional health insurance plans provide sufficient coverage if you or anyone in your family were to suffer a major illness, particularly if the individual happens to be the family’s primary breadwinner.

You may have heard of insurance for long term care or cancer or catastrophic illness.  These are health insurance policies that will pay you benefits if you become diagnosed with a specific illness that is covered by the policy within the policy’s benefit period.  In general, they work more like a life insurance policy than a traditional health insurance policy.  They pay out a specific benefit if you become diagnosed with an illness that is covered under the policy and within the policy’s coverage period.  Many of these policies also offer specific benefits for things like alternative health procedures and treatments or wheelchair accessibility conversions on your home.  These type of benefits are not normally covered under traditional health insurance plans.

What are the chances that you will even need catastrophic illness coverage?  The odds may be greater than you think.  According to statistics:

• You are more than six times likely before the age of 65 to be diagnosed with cancer than you are to die before you are 65.
• There is a 1 in 6 chance of you having a stroke between the age of 40 and 70.
• There is a 1 in 6 chance of you having a heart attack between the age of 40 and 70.
• There is anywhere from a 1 in 6 chance to 1 in 17 chance that you will be diagnosed with some form of cancer before you are age 70.

A combination of high deductibles on insurance policies as well as for treatments not covered under most health insurance plans, and compounded even further with unexpected expenses and loss of income that are associated with catastrophic illnesses can literally wipe out a family’s budget, driving them to bankruptcy or costing them the family home.

Catastrophic illness insurance is a type of supplementary health insurance.  It can help to cover many of the expenses that are associated with serious illnesses that traditional health insurance does not cover.  You should consider getting catastrophic illness insurance if:

• You are your household’s primary breadwinner and you have children
• You have a mortgage to pay on your family’s home.
• There is a history of stroke, heart disease or cancer in your family.
• You are over the age of 40 and any of the above items apply to you.

The decision of whether or not to carry long term care or catastrophic illness insurance should be based on finances and not on fear.  If you are struggling to meet your monthly expenses or pay your mortgage payments then your money is probably better spent elsewhere.  On the other hand, if you have a need to protect your family’s home and ensure that the household bills will get paid if you should fall ill, then it is worth considering catastrophic illness insurance.

If you decide catastrophic illness insurance is worth investing in, there are several things you need to consider to help you choose between the various types of catastrophic illness insurance.

• What illnesses does the policy cover?  Does the policy pay out for several different circumstances?
• Are the premiums on the policy affordable?
• Does the policy cover living expenses in the form of a payout, pay only medical costs, or does it pay for both?
• What is the term on the policy?
• Are the premiums on the policy refundable if you do not make any claims?