Health insurance for independent musicians

[leavings]

This is fairly tangential to home recording, but it's a question I've been struggling with for a while and thought other people might find useful...

I've been making enough money as a musician to support myself for the last 3 years; enough to pay all the essential bills and live in reasonable comfort. However, I've had to eliminate some typical expenses, and health insurance was the first to go. I've been without it since I graduated from college, and though I'm only 26 and in excellent health, still I worry about what I would do if I needed extensive health care and couldn't afford it.

I've searched for all types of plans through a wide array of providers and haven't been able to find anything reasonable. It seems that signing up as an individual doesn't leave you with many options. The best I've found so far is a plan offered through the University of Michigan that would cost me somethng like $300/month. Technically I could afford that, but it would be a real strap-on and I don't think I need it enough to justify that expense.

All I really need is coverage in the case of a real emergency; a broken bone, a serious illness, etc. I don't mind paying out of pocket to see a doctor and dentist once in a while. I paid to have my wisdom teeth removed last year and though it wasn't cheap, it was MUCH cheaper than paying for insurance would have been.

Have any of you undergone this search? I'm hoping the collective wisdom of the board can give me a few suggestions. What providers do you use? How much should I expect to pay for what I need?

Thanks!
Peter

 

[MCreel]

This is fairly tangential to home recording, but it's a question I've been struggling with for a while and thought other people might find useful...

I've been making enough money as a musician to support myself for the last 3 years; enough to pay all the essential bills and live in reasonable comfort. However, I've had to eliminate some typical expenses, and health insurance was the first to go. I've been without it since I graduated from college, and though I'm only 26 and in excellent health, still I worry about what I would do if I needed extensive health care and couldn't afford it.

I've searched for all types of plans through a wide array of providers and haven't been able to find anything reasonable. It seems that signing up as an individual doesn't leave you with many options. The best I've found so far is a plan offered through the University of Michigan that would cost me somethng like $300/month. Technically I could afford that, but it would be a real strap-on and I don't think I need it enough to justify that expense.

All I really need is coverage in the case of a real emergency; a broken bone, a serious illness, etc. I don't mind paying out of pocket to see a doctor and dentist once in a while. I paid to have my wisdom teeth removed last year and though it wasn't cheap, it was MUCH cheaper than paying for insurance would have been.

Have any of you undergone this search? I'm hoping the collective wisdom of the board can give me a few suggestions. What providers do you use? How much should I expect to pay for what I need?

Thanks!
Peter

Peter,

I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a catastrophic plan for well under $300 a month. In fact, it would probably be more like $50 to a $100 I would guess. If you do that then also go open an HSA or some other type of health savings mechanism. An HSA allows you to contribute what you want (if you had an employer they could match), your contributions are pre-tax AND they roll over from year to year.

I would start by looking into those options.

After that I would maybe consider looking into finding one of these group purchase consortiums that exist in some places. There are groups of individuals who pool together and buy in bulk to recieve discounted pricing.

 

[Bondo]

I am not sure about price differences but I have decent insurance through state farm, >$100 a month. about same age and health, so it is out there somewhere.

 

[RAK]

When I was self-insured, I found a health insurance plan for musicians (I think the was from e-healthinsurance). The actual carrier was BSBS, and it cost me roughly $170/month for good coverage.

 

[DavidK]

Consider joining the musicians union

American Federation of Musicians

I have no clue what the insurance costs or is like, check it out. It costs about $250 to join then 150 a year after, if the benefits are good then it might be worth it. I have been a member for 25 years and never checked it out, if you are a symphony player the symphony usually provides it, not the union.