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Health insurance and
benefits for writers
Writer Magazine has the definitive article on the subject
of health care for writers: http://www.writermag.com/wrt/default.aspx?c=a&id=2043
American Association of
Retired Persons (AARP) www.aarphealthcare.com
Alicare www.alicare.com
The ASJA American Society of Journalists and Authors http://www.asja.org/about.php offers health insurance, it is aimed more at freelance work.
The Authors Guild http://www.authorsguild.org/ offers health insurance - requirements are reasonable and fees are about $90 a year.
The Entertainment
Industry Group Insurance Trust www.teigit.com
Mediabistro.com
(HIPUSA.com, GHI.com, Atlantis.com) www.mediabistro.com
National Association of Self Employed (NASE) offers group insurance to members http://www.nase.org/
The National Writers Association offers Health Insurance http://www.nationalwriters.com/
National Writers
The Writers Guild http://www.wga.org/.
These organizations can not only provide the health care you need, but depending on the organization can offer such things as scam alerts, contract assistance, marketing help, and a variety of other services.
COBRA
Leaving employment with a
company
of
more than 20 employees, you may be eligible to temporarily continue your
current health insurance coverage as a freelancer under the provisions of
COBRA, a law that stipulates group rates for individuals after they leave
employment. Group health coverage through COBRA will be more expensive than
what you were paying as an employee, but it typically is less expensive than
individual health coverage. Before
leaving your current position, check with your employer about COBRA
availability. Not every employer is required by law to offer COBRA
benefits. www.cobraininsurance.com.
HIGH DEDUCTIBLE
Another health insurance
strategy to make it affordable is to self insure a portion, that is to buy a
plan with a high deductible ( one example is $1750 deductible which produced a
$110 mo payment - another did a $5,000 deductible to get a lower payment [$250]
for the whole family compared to Cobra coverage of $650 mo.) It doesn't take long to put that amount of
savings in place to cover that deductible with that amount of savings.