Introduction

Hey everyone Victoria Desano here and if you are self-employed or just looking for some different health insurance options I’m going to run through some really cool options today that you have probably never heard of and that can probably save you a good amount of money but before I dive in if you can give this article a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel I would greatly appreciate that.

So I really wanted to make this article because of my own personal experience being self-employed and I know that there are a ton of people out there especially in the U.S where I’m located that people that have transferred over to being self-employed this year or last year due to the pandemic tried out being in the gig economy for the first time ever and realized that wow our health insurance here in the U.S is really heavily tied to our employment in a corporation or a bigger business.

When you go solo or you are in the gig economy or you’re self-employed it’s a little bit tricky to find options that are going to work for you that aren’t going to literally cost you an arm and leg. So I’m going to run through six different insurance options some of which you probably know of and some of which you’ve probably never heard of and show you a little bit about how you can combine some of these to get the best results for you and save a lot of money in the long run.

I’m also going to share some really awesome resources that can save you money on a ton of different medical procedures and things like that too, so stick around to the end where I can share all my tips and tricks about how I save money on my medical bills.

Commercial Insurance

So the first health insurance option is the traditional healthcare marketplace option, the ones that you guys are probably the most familiar with. These can usually be subsidized if you’re only making a certain amount, so this might be a great option if you are just starting out self-employed and you’re not anticipating making a ton of money this upcoming year or whenever you’re applying for this health insurance.

You can get a decent government subsidy where the cost of your monthly premiums can be greatly reduced by utilizing some subsidy from the government. Most of these traditional marketplace plans can vary a lot in what you pay even with the subsidies, so obviously you want to choose something that’s going to be best suited for your lifestyle, the medications you need and all of that.

It’s important to really choose specifically on those things and look at what’s going to be covered and all that good stuff. Personally I chose an HMO just because I love the medical group that I’m a part of and oftentimes it’s a lot cheaper of premiums to go with an HMO.

If you love to be able to have the freedom to choose a bunch of different providers in the area, PPO is generally going to be your best option to do so without having to pay out-of-network fees because with HMO you’re traditionally just paying for the in-network and if you want to go out of network it’s really expensive.

So PPO if you want to kind of venture into that realm that’s what that means. Just a little terminology if you’re not familiar. Either way this is a great option for people just starting out in the self-employed economy or gig economy and trying to get their footing and figuring out a plan that’s going to work for them when they’re not making all that much money to start with.

Private Insurance

Now if you are making a decent amount of money as a self-employed individual or if you’re in the gig economy and you’re making upwards of fifty thousand dollars a year you’re going to want to go for a private health insurance company.

It’s going to cost you a little bit more but you can still choose a plan that’s going to be a lower deductible but might have higher monthly premiums because of that, or you can choose a plan that has lower monthly premiums but you have a really high deductible or high out-of-pocket expense.

It kind of just depends on your lifestyle. There are a lot of different ways to tweak that equation and figure out what works best for you. Those are probably the two most familiar options that a lot of us know about because the private health insurance companies are usually what are contracted with when we are working for an employer.

Big companies that we know of like Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna etcetera are the ones we know about because they’re usually contracted with those employers and we’re familiar with them.

Direct Primary Care (DPC)

Now there are some lesser-known options that I’m a really big fan of either using independently or in conjunction with certain other health insurance options that can really be advantageous to you and save you a lot of money in the long run and still get you really great coverage.

One of these options is called Direct Primary Care or DPC. DPC is basically a system in which there’s a clinic and instead of paying the health insurance companies you’re paying a monthly fee or membership to this clinic in exchange for almost unlimited primary care services.

You’ll get your immunizations, your checkups, your physicals, blood panels and a lot of minor procedures covered. Kind of like your basic wellness and primary care needs can be covered through DPC clinics.

Direct Primary Care can be a really great option if you have a large family and a lot of young kids and they’re always getting sick and you’re always having to have doctor’s visits and taking them in and racking up those co-pays.

Direct Primary Care really makes it affordable for families to join because typically there will be an individual fee of like 75 dollars for the month and then if you add your whole family it’s only 125 or 140 dollars a month for the entire family to be added and to be able to use that clinic for all their primary care needs without any additional expenses added on.

A lot of these clinics also allow 24/7 access to the doctors and you can schedule remote visits over your phone which can be really helpful if you’re a new parent and maybe your kid bumped their knee on something and you’re worried that they broke something and you just want a quick evaluation with a doctor.

It’s just a really great accessible way to cut out the middleman of the insurance company in the process and truly have a really great caring relationship with your primary care physician.

However the downfall is that you could have a big accident or have an injury in a sport or something like that and that’s not going to be covered at a DPC clinic. So even though you’re paying that membership fee to have all your primary care needs covered you’re not necessarily going to have all of your emergency needs covered and those bigger procedural things that can happen.

That’s why I’m a big fan of combining Direct Primary Care with ancillary insurance.

Ancillary Policy + DPC

Ancillary insurance is honestly really awesome. I didn’t really learn too much about it until last year and I wish I had learned about it sooner because it probably could have saved me a lot of money in the long run.

Ancillary insurance is something where you get a policy like an accident and illness policy or accident injury policy and then a critical illness policy or things that are smaller individual policies based on your risk.

For me for example I’m an athlete and I had an ACL injury a few years ago. I’m pretty scared of re-tearing that ACL ligament and I really want to cover myself in case I do have another injury that’s going to require a lot of MRIs and surgery and things like that because it’s expensive.

Having something like an ancillary injury policy where you pay anywhere from fifteen to thirty dollars a month and get covered up to ten thousand dollars is pretty good in case you get into an accident or something where you’re really going to need to meet a lot of out-of-pocket expenses on your own.

So having something like Direct Primary Care and an ancillary critical illness or accident policy can be really beneficial and you’re still only paying on average between the two of them somewhere around 100 to 150 dollars per month.

Commercial Insurance + Ancillary Policy

Having ancillary insurance like I mentioned along with Direct Primary Care can be a coverage option, but there are some blind spots to it. For example if you have an emergency that is going to cost you more than ten thousand dollars or whatever your coverage limit is with that ancillary option.

So what I did this year is that I chose to have a commercial health insurance option like Blue Cross Blue Shield and chose an option that has a lower monthly premium but a significantly high deductible and out-of-pocket expense.

Combining that with ancillary insurance worked really well for me because my biggest worry is having another injury happen where I’m going to have to pay up to the amount of my out-of-pocket expense which is around 8,700 dollars.

If I get my ancillary policy and I’m paying an additional 15 to 30 dollars a month for that and it covers up to 10,000 dollars then I’m basically covering whatever my out-of-pocket has the potential to be if I get injured.

I can submit all those claims to my ancillary health insurance company and if those get approved I get reimbursed for all those out-of-pocket expenses associated with that injury. So it’s a pretty sweet deal if you can find a Direct Primary Care relationship that you like or a commercial health insurance option that has a lower monthly premium but a higher out-of-pocket and combine that with ancillary health insurance.

Health Sharing Ministry

Another option that I don’t think a lot of people know about is something called the Health Sharing Ministry. This one typically has some sort of religious affiliation so if you’re not practicing a certain type of religion this might not be for you.

There are certain stipulations where for certain ones in the Christian faith like Samaritan Ministries you have to have a pastor sign off on something saying that you attended church and certain things like that.

It is a lot cheaper than traditional health insurance. It does not cover a lot of primary care stuff but it does cover a lot of the emergency stuff.

That is a much cheaper option but again taking into account that it doesn’t cover primary care you might want to combine it with something like a Direct Primary Care membership where you pay a certain fee to get access to your primary care provider at any point and then have all your emergencies and bigger things covered through that Health Sharing Ministry.

Short Term Health Insurance

Lastly this isn’t necessarily a full option but it does give you some time if you are in transition between jobs and you’re not really sure what you’re doing for health insurance and you still need some coverage.

Short-term health insurance is something that I had before for a period of around six months and it was still pretty good coverage. It still covers the basics and it’s something that you can get through multiple companies.

That one is a little bit trickier and I definitely recommend going through an agent if you’re going to do short-term health insurance because there’s a lot of individualization and personalization that goes on in that process that an agent can really help you with.

Again that’s a great option if you just need to buy yourself some time while you’re trying to figure things out until something else kicks in with an employer or COBRA or any of those options.

Tools To Save On Your Medical Expenses

Now I want to share a little bit about some really cool ways that I’ve been able to save money on my medical bills moving forward because now I know there are a lot of better options out there.

Number one is MD Save. I have used MD Save to cross-reference the actual price of a lot of procedures like MRIs because a lot of times when you go in and need scans done whether that’s a CT scan, X-ray or MRI you’re going to be referred within the medical network or to the hospital and those prices are going to be pretty insane.

Even if you have insurance you may still need to pay upwards of 200 to 250 dollars for an MRI which might be expensive for you.

There are other options out there where you can go to different clinics and just pay a cash-pay price instead of using your insurance. Oftentimes there are places that do MRIs for much cheaper than what you’ll get billed through insurance.

MD Save will show you what those prices are and where you can go. You can compare whether it’s cheaper to use your insurance or cheaper to pay independently through a clinic with a lower cash-pay price.

This has saved me a lot of money and a lot of my clients too because I’ve recommended this for them.

The next tool that I have found incredibly helpful and has probably saved me thousands of dollars at this point is GoodRx. You can download the app or submit your address online and they’ll send you an actual physical card.

It’s for saving money on prescriptions because a lot of health insurance companies change what they’re covering year to year and if you’re on a medication long-term suddenly the price might go really high.

GoodRx gives you coupons that you can use at the pharmacy. Many times when I go to pick up a prescription and the price is higher than I’d like it to be I cross-reference it on GoodRx and ask the pharmacy to rerun the prescription using the coupon on my phone.

They’ll do it and it ends up being a lot cheaper which saves a ton of money.

Lastly because we haven’t talked about dental insurance yet there’s something called DentalPlans.com. Traditional dental insurance for self-employed individuals usually isn’t super great and often doesn’t cover much beyond the basics.

DentalPlans.com is a really affordable website where you can sign up for a plan and a lot of the prices are reduced for things like cavity fillings and cleanings.

Instead of paying around 200 dollars for a cleaning it can drop down to around 30 dollars and cavity fillings can drop down significantly too. It can save you thousands of dollars on more expensive procedures like veneers or root canals.

The great thing is that you can use it as soon as you activate it. A lot of dental insurance plans have a six-month wait period before you can use the benefits which is kind of ridiculous.

A lot of dentist offices are also starting to offer membership plans where instead of taking insurance you pay the dental office a yearly membership fee which is often much cheaper than traditional dental insurance.

With that yearly membership fee you’ll usually get two cleanings included, two sets of X-rays, unlimited examinations if needed and a huge discount on dental procedures.

Final Thoughts

Alright guys that’s all I got. I really hope this was useful for you and that you were able to get some good information and find some ways to save money if you’re self-employed and trying to figure out the medical system and health insurance.

I hope I provided some different options for you that are going to line up with your needs and I really hope this was helpful because I’m a big fan of patient advocacy and trying to make medicine affordable for everybody especially if you’re self-employed.

So thanks guys for reading this article and before you tune off if you can give this article a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel I would be super appreciative so I can keep making awesome content like this for you guys.

Alright take care.