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Subject:Re: health insurance for contractors From:Steve Fouts <sfouts -at- ELLISON -dot- SC -dot- TI -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 28 Dec 1994 08:30:09 CST
|} I work as a contractor and thus do not receive health insurance from my
|} employer. I am becoming more and more concerned about this...
|}
|} I have checked into several different companies (such as Blue Cross)
|} to find out about their individual health insurance plans, but they
|} seem to be either exorbitantly expensive
It is the health care that is exorbidantly expensive. The insurance
companies charge what they need to to make a fair (there is some debate
about this, but inappropriate for this list) return on their investment.
|} My lack of health insurance is about the only reason I have considered
|} taking a full-time position with a company.
Someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression
that contractors charged hourly rates that were much higher than the
stated hourly rate of full time employees so that they could afford
their own ``benefits.'' Our contract employees make something like a
quarter to a third more than a comparable full time employee, plus
overtime. I know that all this has been discussed ad nauseum a few
thousand times.
|} Could anyone out there provide some pointers to how to find
|} affordable, reasonable health insurance for the self-employed?
Your best bet is as a member of some qualified group with a group plan.
It is almost always possible for a group to get better rates than for an
individual because the insurance co. can amortize the losses over
the entire group. I used to have a membership in a dental insurance
plan like this, back when I was a starving college student. I think
my qualifying group was through my credit union.
There were plan dentists, and set fees for certain procedures. Can't
think of the name of it, but many professional organizations have
something comparable. Anyone know if STC has something like this?
_______________ _____
/ ___ __/__\ \ / / _\ Steve Fouts
/___ \| | ___\ | / __\ sfouts -at- ellison -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com
/ / \ | \ / \
/_______/__|_______\_/________\ "She understood, as he did, that all writing
was infernally boring and futile, but that it had to be done out of respect
for tradition" --Stanislaw Lem
