Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

Is anyone in this situation?

I'm just curious as to how one obtains health insurance outside of what their employer provides. I'm a little naive in this area...I was covered for a long time by my dad's, and shortly after college I landed my current job where it's provided and we aren't charged for it (and they cover DH too, and we're not charged for him, which is absolutely fantastic).

However, I'm looking into other opportunities and I know that not every place provides coverage...or they might cover me, but not DH. (His company is small; he works for his family...they don't provide health insurance)...so again, I apologize for being incredibly naive here, but how does one go about obtaining health insurance outside of employer-provided? And what kind of costs are DH and I looking at monthly? I know there are factors, but generally speaking...we're healthy, non-smokers, not overweight, no pre-existing conditions...

I know this is kind of vague, but looking online didn't help much so I figured I'd ask around here. Feel free to FM me if you'd rather not post.

TIA!

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

DH owns his own company and my job doesn't cover my spouse or children (but pays for my insurance in full) and I believe he pays $500 a month for just him. He has a very low based plan with no out of network benefits. My company pays $800 a month for my coverage, but I have great insurance.

He gets his insurance through an insurance broker.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

Before I got my current job I qualified for Oxford, which meant I made very little money and I still had to pay $400 a month (just for me, I wasnt married at the time). I can't imagine how much it would cost if I made more money and wasn't covered by work.

Although come June I am being excessed and will have no job and no insurance

Good Luck

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

I read this in the NY Times the other day and was

Message edited 2/28/2011 7:13:29 PM.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

DH owns his own business. Before we got married, he was paying $600/m an if he wante to a family it would be $1000/m.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

We pay over 1000 a month for the two of us. My husband is self-employed and the cheapest plan we found was through oxford, that would be fully covered.

It goes up this month when we have the baby.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

When DH was laid off a few years ago, I looked into private Healthcare for a family(You and DH would be a family plan) the cheapest that I found was $2200 per month

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

My mom is self-employed and is on Oxford liberty. It costs her $ 400 a month, but it is a great insurance.

Message edited 2/28/2011 11:10:44 PM.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

I am self employed and I am now covered through DH's insurance. When I was single, I bought my insurance through the broker that was recommended by the Suffolk County Bar Association. Lots of professional organizations have relationships with brokers, so you could go that route. This one was a local broker on LI, IN Melville. His name escapes me at the moment but he was nice enough and he was able to get me a few options. He does not only serve the Bar. He takes other clients. The year I got married, my health insurance would have doubled because of some changes in health insurance for self employed people. Healthy NY and Family Health Plus are options for some people and I think they may have even eased the eligibility requirements. I'll get the broker's name if you need it. I have it on a coffee mug that he gave me .

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

If you live in the NYC/LI area, you are basically looking at a 2nd mortgage payment a month for health insurance.

DH is self-employed and couldn't afford healthcare. Now we have it through my job, IN healthcare and pay $357.00 a WEEK for family health insurance.



I serve people who are on Medicaid, and I seriously wish we had an option like that to fall back on.

That's another thread though.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

also I dont know what you plan on doing work wose but you could look into the freelancers union. SO if you are going to be working on your own it might work out. My sister used it for years and never had an issue.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

dh tried looking into it because he just started paying for us as a fam(in june)
When you go on your own its more expensive.

Re: Health insurance...going it alone (not being covered by work)

Wow...thanks for all of these responses, they are all really helpful! I'm going to look into some of these options and keep all of this in mind in my job search.