I’m sure everyone would agree that there are some great advantages to working as a real estate professional. Since you’re an independent contractor, you’re basically your own boss. You can set your own schedule, work from home or at the office, and even take a three-hour CE lunch and learn without anyone saying a word.
Unfortunately, the downside to working as a real estate professional is that your health insurance is typically not paid for as part of your employment. This means your health insurance coverage has to come out of your own pocket and if you’re not careful, it can cost you a lot of money.
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the three types of health insurance that are normally available to real estate professionals to see how they stack up:
Corporate Health Insurance
This type of health insurance is often offered by the company you or your spouse works for as an employee benefit. As an employee, you will usually have access to a group health insurance plan.
Pros:
– The company usually pays 50% of the cost for the family member that is the employee.
– Most of the time, the health care plans offered to the employee are very good as they are reasonably price and come with a reasonable deductible.
Cons:
– The spouse and children of the employee generally have to pay full price for their health care plan.Since the plans are so good, they are also extremely expensive for the rest of the family.
Health Insurance Type #2: Obamacare aka ACA Healthcare
This type of health insurance is purchased through healthcare.gov. Once you sign up on the government website, you choose an insurance carrier, the type of coverage you want (HMO,PPO) and the amount of deductible you want to pay.
Pros:
– Covers everyone, even if you have a pre-existing condition.
– If you are low income, the government will subsidize your payment.
Cons:
– These plans are only available during Open Enrollment.
– They can be very expensive if you are not considered low income.
– If you live in the state of Georgia, there are limited options for health care plans. For 2018, your only choices were AmBetter and Kaiser, which are both HMOs.
Health Insurance Type #3: Catastrophic PPO Plans aka Hospital Indemnity Plans
This type of health insurance pays you benefits when you are in the hospital for an unplanned reason. It may also cover other medical services, depending on the policy.
Pros:
– It is usually half the cost of Obamacare.
– There are zero deductibles plans available.
– You can lock in your monthly premium until you turn 65.
– Your premium will never increase.
Cons:
– You must be in fairly good health due to the fact that these plans are underwritten.
– You cannot previously have had cancer or a heart attack.
– If you are a diabetic, you can only be on medication. If you are on insulin, you will not qualify for this plan.
If you are a real estate professional and are wondering which of these three options make the most sense for you and your family, that’s where I can help. There is no charge for a review of what you have and what’s possible. Give me a call at (770) 527-5598 so we can get you covered and be spending more time selling homes.