How many indie hackers buy their own health insurance?
If you buy your own, where did you buy it? (e.g. broker, exchange, direct)
If you didn't, how do you get it? (e.g. employer, spouse employer, Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP, other)
Or do you go uninsured?
And if you go uninsured, how are you financing healthcare? (e.g. out of pocket, self-care, alternative solution)
Doing some market research -- very, very, very much appreciate any help and happy to share the journey.
Another founder recommended https://www.chministries.org/ and we signed up. For $85/mo per person you only get covered accidents and surgeries over $1000, all other bills and preventative stuff you pay yourself. we'll see how it goes but its rediculous to pay $1500/mo+ for our family of 4 and have a huge deductible. We decided to try and use that remaining $1250/mo to pay cash for our medical expenses.
very helpful, thank you.
Hi Rick,
I'm in California and purchase my insurance through https://www.coveredca.com/. As a single mid-30s male, I pay $350/mo for fairly mediocre health insurance and $50/mo for dental. Hope that helps!
Thanks. Helpful.
When you have a question, do you call the exchange, contact the insurance company, or figure it out your self?
Before choosing an insurance plan, if you had a question you can get help through the exchange. Whether or not they are actually helpful, I'm not sure 😅. I'm a DIY type so I ended up doing all of my own research before picking a plan.
After you select your insurance plan and pay the first month premium (it seems that in CA at least, you pay this immediately from what I remember), then you would contact your health insurance company with any questions.
Hey Rick,
I 'm from Germany and you have to be insured here. Whether you like it or not. If you are self-employed, you have the choice between private or legal. Legal health insurances (I don't know a suitable translation for it) usually have less benefits. Many then insure themselves privately. This is only possible if you earn extremely well, i.e. several 1000€ per month or if you are really self-employed.
But whether you want that or not, here you have to insure. If you don't do this, the government will.
I am privately insured. When I started, 10 years ago, I was looking for a consultant. When I changed and when I earned more money, I took it into my own hands. I compared online and thats it. :-)
Thanks. Interesting.
Hey Rick, I live in Pondicherry, India.
I've bought my own health insurance which cost about $ 167/year through an insurance broker. So here in India there are government hospitals which are relatively cheap, private clinics and private hospitals which are slightly expensive. Health insurance helps when I seek treatment from private hospitals.
Thanks.
My wife was 1099 for years. She had a plan from the online healthcare marketplace. Nothing special here, but make sure it actually covers stuff. A cheap monthly payment often means high deductibles.
Make sure you fully understand copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, out of pocket maximums, etc. Things are getting better now and there are more plain language explanations for these things often with examples.
Consider any planned or recurring healthcare expenses etc. Prescription medications you take, etc.
It's easy to find a plan: just use the marketplace. It's choosing a specific one that is going to require more effort and understanding.
FYI I'm a corporate hospital pharmacy manager. I'm not a health insurance expert but I have some idea how this stuff works.
Thanks for the info.
Employer for US health insurance, out-of-pocket for Mexican health insurance.
Ty
I must say that the conditions and cost of health insurance are very different in different states. In addition, in a number of states, the availability of health insurance is mandatory, and you may be fined for its absence. Such a rule exists now in California, but in New York state it was abolished under President Trump, and now everyone decides the question for himself. In general, the state of New York is one of the most flexible and comfortable in terms of medicine. Using the website https://www.medigap.com/faqs/medigap-vs-medicare-advantage / you can use similar privileges.
Hi Everyone - I've launched a startup to focus on solving this problem. You can follow the journey at https://www.indiehackers.com/product/legup-health-for-now
If you feel uncomfortable posting this publicly, email me.