Health Insurance for the Home Based Business Owner
© brykmantra
On the news it sounds like a new healthcare bill will be voted on soon but in the meantime, do you struggle with the issue of finding affordable health insurance for yourself and your family?
As a sole proprieter with two children, I ended up piecing together policies that offered the wellness plans I needed at a monthly premium that I could afford, but before I signed up, I did a ton of research.
Today while cruising the questions on LinkedIn, I found this question by Karen Emanuelson
As an entrepreneur, how do you deal with health insurance?
If you are self employed, how do you pay for health insurance for your family?
Has anyone hired family members so you could provide them with an employee benefit of health insurance?
The answers were standard ranging from "investigate" to look into the benefit plans offered through your business associations, but one answer really stood out in my mind from David Kim
Having family on the insurance policy is NOT an issue as long as you add them correctly.
You have the option of having "family plans" available in which case they do not need to work for you. (Immediate family and dependants only).
You also have the option of having your family members work for you on a part-time basis, but you must make the insurance available to everyone in your company (part or full time) to avoid any lawsuits. This allows you to have extended family members on-the-books and insured. Depending on what business you're in, they can do a variety of qualified "jobs".
From your bio, it looks like your family can do many basic jobs for you including proofreading, reviewing, or you can even classify them as paid trainees. As long as you provide proof of their labor effort, share the same plans with all employees of your company, and pay the payroll taxes on their income, you should be good to go.
Insurance companies have many different plans that sound similar. Best option is to price out with MANY brokers and directly with the big insurance companies to see what matters most to you and your family.
Factors to include are premium costs to the company (you), premium costs to your employees, deductible/co-insurance/caps, pre-existing clauses/restrictions, etc. Make sure you disclose exactly what you are looking for (if there is a pre-existing condition) so there's no surprises after you purchase the policy.
How are you managing the issue of healthcare for your business?