Re: Insurance options for 1099 gigs

[Dan <dan27649@xxxxxxxxx>]

Reeve,

1099 is sometimes the only option when employers use recruiting companies
to do a contract-to-hire.  Fortunately, most of the recruiters now offer a
W2 option, which saves the self-employment tax, but they won't pay for any
benefits that they offer the W2 "employees".  (The other forgotten benefit
is that, as a W2 employee, you are eligible for unemployment benefits.)

The last time I was doing 1099, the lowest ACA policy I could find cost
$12k in annual premiums with a $12k deductible.  In essence, I would have
shelled out $24k before I saw any benefit.  Well, except for the "free"
annual physical, but I digress.  I ended up signing up for a religious
healthshare for $5k annual "donation" and something like $3k-$4k
"deductible".  Prior to ACA, I could have afforded to insure myself.  Yay
for 35M folks who now have insurance, but I could not afford to shell out
up to $24k before getting any benefit.

- Dan

On Thu, Apr 20, 2023 at 9:14 PM Reeve <rfritchman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> You're dealing with two issues: being on a 1099 and establishing a rate
> that supports the cost of medical coverage you want.  The 1099 life is not
> for everybody, with medical insurance as a major consideration.  Don't
> forget you have to pay the employer's share of FICA and Medicare; it's
> 7.65%.  There are a lot of reasons to have an employer!
>
> ObamaCare currently covers 35,000,000 Americans and provides for
> routine health care for a class of Americans struggling to pay for *any*
> health
> care.  Should ACA provide catastrophic coverage?  Probably...but Medicare
> wasn't perfect when it was introduced.  This may not be obvious but
> regular medical and wellness care, made available to millions via ACA and
> when received over a lifetime, significantly decreases the risk of
> catastrophic illness, both pre- and post-Medicare.  This doesn't help you
> now, of course, but it's part of the ACA strategy: keep people healthy over
> their lifetime.
>
> It sounds like you need critical illness, not catastrophic illness,
> coverage.  But Medicare with good supplemental plans is the way to go--I've
> had prostate cancer and my world-class treatment as a major teaching
> hospital didn't cost me a dime.  My wife had a knee replacement--didn't
> cost me a dime.  But you pay for Medicare and it's not cheap