Thursday, November 15, 2007

Getting Health Insurance When You Run A Business From Home

By Lisa Zornoza

One of the main concerns of people running their own business out of their home is health insurance. While you may feel healthy enough and choose to ignore it for a while, even a small illness can throw you into financial turmoil in a hurry. Remember, if you are not working, you are not making money and without health insurance you need to cover the doctor, hospital and any prescription costs on your own.

Several communities have a chamber of commerce that has joined with insurance providers to offer health insurance for the small business owner and it may be available for those who are not chamber members. Many states also have health insurance programs open to individual business owners as well and if you have at least one employee, some insurance companies may offer plans for you and that one employee.

When looking for health insurance for your home business, you should also look into liability insurance in the event someone gets hurt on your property. Even close friends may choose to take legal action to recover injury costs and even on small claim can put a serious dent in your finances. Look into business interruption insurance as well, in case a fire or flood closes down your business for several days, removing your ability to earn a living.

Individual health insurance is often costly, but the cost of a serious illness or injury can be even higher. That is not to say you need to spend every penny you make on insurance, but it does mean you have to consider it a necessary business expense. If another family member is employed outside the home and you can be covered under his or her health insurance plan, you may be able to survive the first years of the business. However, if something happens to their employment and you are forced to pay higher premiums for your own coverage, some illnesses may be treated as a pre-existing condition and not covered under a new plan.

There also many prescription plans to cover business owners who have no other health insurance coverage. While these plans seldom cover the total cost of a prescription, every little bit will help while trying to run your home business. If you are young and in reasonably good health, consider a higher deductible to help reduce the monthly premiums. As the business grows and money becomes more available, you can reduce the deductible during the renewal period and still maintain adequate coverage.

One way to find out about many of the plans is to contact other home business owners. Some of them may not have coverage and by banding together it is possible a health insurance company may allow you to form a group and sign up for health insurance coverage under a group plan, offering reduced costs over individual coverage. In short, when you are looking for affordable health insurance coverage for your home based business, ask someone. It may be more available than you think.

About the Author:
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