It’s may feel difficult to navigate how to get health insurance for freelancers. The American healthcare system is especially tricky. Most countries have a “single payer” healthcare system covered by taxpayers. Taxes cover the costs of essential healthcare for all residents and are paid out by the government.
But in the US, insurance is typically covered by an employer, Medicare, Medicaid, or Veterans Affairs. Sometimes your insurance may be covered by your parent or spouse.
So for millions of Americans, none of these systems fit their situation. If you’re self employed and over the age of 26, you may be on your own to find health insurance.
And if you’ve always had insurance through a parent, spouse, or employer, you’re probably totally new to the choices that you need to make when enrolling in health insurance for the self-employed — not to mention how to actually get it!
I recently partnered with Catch Benefits to walk through everything you need to get health insurance for 2022.
Start finding a plan through Catch for free
How the Affordable Care Act affects health insurance for freelancers
You’ve probably heard of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obamacare.” The ACA was passed in 2010 and was intended to make healthcare more accessible to millions of uninsured Americans.
Prior to the Affordable Care Act, 13.3% of the US population was uninsured. If you didn’t qualify for insurance from your parents, spouse, employer, or a government program, you didn’t have many options.
Insurance is a numbers game. A bunch of people pay into a plan, some end up not using it, and some end up using a lot of it.
You’re pooling together your risk by investing in an insurance plan. And the insurance company uses the pooled cash to pay for the healthcare costs that come through in the form of claims from providers.
That’s where the Healthcare.gov marketplace comes in.
In 2010, the ACA created a federal insurance marketplace. Now those who are self-employed or didn’t qualify for insurance before could pool their risk together by buying into plans individually through Healthcare.gov.
And the ACA provides premium tax credits that help lower the cost of insurance for lower-income households.
In the process, it also mandated that all Americans enroll in some form of health insurance.
Do freelancers need health insurance?
According to Investopedia, as of January 2019, it’s no longer a federal requirement to have health insurance. But it’s still required at a state level in:
- California
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- Vermont
- Washington, D.C.
So, for most Americans, you aren’t technically required to have insurance.
Why would freelancers want health insurance?
If you have chronic pain, pre-existing conditions, or prescriptions — you will probably want insurance. But what if I’m healthy and have no reason to think that I won’t stay healthy?
It’s a common question for freelancers, especially when they just start freelancing and are budget conscious.
Of course no one wants things to go wrong, and we don’t always expect the things that do go wrong. Insurance is your safety net to protect against unforeseen accidents, illnesses, and so on.
And if you care for other dependents (children or a spouse for example), that’s an even bigger risk you run by not having insurance.
How much is health insurance for freelancers?
The cost of health insurance varies depending on the strength of your coverage, whether you have any dependents, your income, and more.
You may even get some help paying for your premiums from the government, depending on your income. Or, your premiums could cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on the coverage you select and how many dependents you have.
The different health insurance marketplaces each provide different options for you based upon your unique situation. So when comparing plans, it’s important to understand the key terminology, which I cover in depth below.
When freelancers enroll in health insurance?
If you’re looking for marketplace coverage (i.e. you don’t qualify for employer or insurance from a spouse or parent) then you’ll need to purchase a policy during open enrollment.
Open enrollment is the period each year when you’re allowed to start, stop or change your health insurance plan. Typically, open enrollment is from November 1 through December 15.
Open Enrollment has been extended for 2022. You can now enroll in health insurance policies from November 1 through January 15. However, if you want your insurance to begin coverage on January 1, 2022, you need to enroll by December 15, 2021.
The only way to get an individual health plan outside of open enrollment is by qualifying for a special enrollment period (SEP). A special enrollment period follows certain life events like losing health coverage, moving, getting married, having a baby, or adopting a child.
And even if you qualify for a SEP, you need to enroll in a new plan within 60 days of that qualifying event.
How to get marketplace health insurance for freelancers
The federal marketplace has participating insurance providers all over the country. If you had an insurance provider in the past, chances are that they also have plans available on the health insurance marketplace.
You can purchase a plan directly from those providers, and the marketplaces help you do that. But first you’ll want to choose a plan that works for you.
Think of the federal marketplace as the menu serving up your options. You can see what’s available, filter by things that are important to you, and ultimately choose a plan. But first you’ll need to apply for coverage.
The Healthcare.gov marketplace is about as clunky as you’d expect from a government website. Thankfully it’s improved, and there are several other private companies that have even easier interfaces.
And some more good news: those services are free to use.
There are three places you can start your application and enrollment:
Healthcare.gov
Healthcare.gov is the direct interfaces from the government to provide health insurance for freelancers and others. The marketplace helps you estimate and directly apply your tax credit when enrolling in a plan (more on this later).
Click here to get started with Healthcare.gov
Catch
Catch is a lot like Health Sherpa. The two companies link directly to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and both help apply for coverage through a custom dashboard. What differentiates Catch is that it can also help you with your other benefits, like tax withholding and payments, retirement plans, and custom savings plans.
Catch also finds and automatically applies the tax credits you might qualify for.
Click here to get started with Catch
Health Sherpa
Health Sherpa offers the same core functionality as the federal marketplace, but with a much more intuitive website. It walks you through the same questions, helps you apply the same credits, and gets you to the same outcome.
Health Sherpa even offers recommendations for your best option based upon the answers you provide.
Health Sherpa is behind the scenes of several other organizations and agents, including Catch Benefits. So it may seem like you’re enrolling through one company (Catch for example) but it’s actually being processed through Health Sherpa.
Click here to get started with Health Sherpa
Getting health insurance for freelancers outside of the marketplace
There are a couple different ways you can get health insurance without going through an exchange like Healthcare.gov, Health Sherpa, and Catch. These are called “off-exchange” plans and are purchased directly through an insurance company (like Oscar, Medical Mutual, and so on).
These companies allow you to purchase a plan directly through them (as well as browse their exchange-specific plans too).
There are also group health insurance programs through religious organizations, like Medi-Share and Liberty Health Share. These programs are run by 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations and available to individuals who agree to a Statement of Faith.
Finally, you may have heard of Direct Primary Care, which are an alternative to services paid for by insurance. These services charge a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee.
Be sure to do plenty of research on these options if you explore them, because are not kept to the same standards as healthcare marketplace plans.
Health insurance application process and premium tax credits
Most of the health insurance application is pretty straightforward. From the Healthcare.gov website, to be eligible to enroll in health coverage through the Marketplace, you must:
- Live in the United States.
- Be a U.S. citizen or national (or be lawfully present). Learn about eligible immigration statuses.
- Not be incarcerated.
But there is more to the application process. Part of the process is projecting your income for the year to determine your eligibility for premium tax credits.
Premium tax credits are intended to help make healthcare accessible for low income individuals and families. So the lower your projected income, the higher your subsidy will appear to be.
For example, if the Premium on the plan you selected is $230 per month, but you qualify for a $30 tax credit, you will pay $200 per month.
A word of caution on income estimates
If you don’t understand how the tax credits work, you may be tempted to “fake” your income in order to be “eligible” for a higher tax credit.
Your tax credits are based on the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) that you report in your tax return for the following year. So if you apply for marketplace coverage in November 2019, and your coverage runs through the 2020 calendar year, your 2020 premium tax credit is dependent on the AGI reported on your 2020 tax returns.
If your 2020 tax return lists an AGI that is higher than your projected AGI from November 2019, you must pay back the tax credit you were given. There’s no cheating the system here — while you may lower your premiums month to month as you go through 2020, you will eventually pay the premiums you truly owe based on your 2020 financial performance.
So if you don’t underestimate your income, and don’t withhold some cash to pay back your healthcare premiums, you may run into a cash flow problem.
On the flip side, if you overestimate your income and submit a lower AGI on your 2020 tax return, you may be reimbursed for tax credits you are owed.
One last thing on the income projections: if you are self employed, you will likely be asked to provide proof of the income you are projecting. This may be difficult depending on how long you’ve been in business; it’s easy to refer back to the previous year’s tax return, but if you were employed, that won’t help much.
The healthcare marketplace provides several recommendations for how to prove your income. Your documents are reviewed by a human, and I’ve been able to upload a letter explaining my income as a PDF alongside previous tax returns.
What to know about health insurance terminology
At the end of the day, the way you experience your healthcare is determined by the plan you enroll in. And there are a lot of options to choose from, each of them complete with a summary of benefits and a ton of terminology that is probably new to you. Let’s start with that.
Premium: The dollar amount you pay every month to keep your plan active.
Covered services: The benefits your health insurance company helps to pay for. How much they cover depends on your specific plan and the services you’re getting. Generally, the higher the premium, the more your plan covers the cost of a covered service.
Deductible: The amount you have to pay out-of-pocket for covered services before your health insurance company starts paying for those services. If you hit your deductible, what you pay after that depends on your plan; you may have a copay or coinsurance, or you may owe nothing at all. Your Premiums do not count towards your deductible.
Out-of-pocket max: The most you could pay for covered health services in a calendar year (not including your monthly premiums). After you hit your max (again, not counting premiums) you won’t owe any money for covered services. This is typically around $8,000 for an individual or $16,000 for a family.
Copayment (copay): A fixed dollar amount you’re responsible for paying for a covered appointment, service, or prescription. If your plan says you have a $20 copay for a doctors appointment, that means you’ll pay $20 no matter what the visit actually costs — and your insurance covers the rest.
Coinsurance: This is similar to a copay, but calculated as a percentage. If your dermatologist requires a 20% coinsurance and the visit costs $100, you would owe $20 while your insurance company pays the rest.
Real life example
Let’s say you have a monthly premium of $260, a $6,000 deductible, and an out-of-pocket-max of $8,000.
Every month, just to have coverage, you will pay $260. If you make a doctor’s visit, any cost you incur that isn’t covered by your plan will count towards your $6,000 deductible. If you go see a therapist, and your plan offers a $60 copay for therapy visits, you will still have $5,940 of your deductible leftover before insurance covers the cost.
But without insurance, you would have to pay full price for that appointment — it may be hundreds of dollars.
You may be thinking, “But I’m paying hundreds of dollars per month just for insurance!”
Here’s why that matters: If you’re in an accident and find yourself facing hospital bills of $40,000 for your recovery, you will pay $8,000 (your out-of-pocket-max) and insurance will cover the remaining balance.
Of course we don’t want to pay $8,000 for medical care, but it’s certainly better than $40,000.
But remember that this counts for covered services. You’ll want to pay close attention to your plan’s Summary of Benefits to see what services are covered by a plan you want.
Choosing a health insurance plan for freelancers
When it’s time to choose your plan, there are a few major considerations to choose the best plan for you.
- Your existing healthcare needs
- Lifestyle
- Budget
If you have pre-existing healthcare needs
Do you have prescription medications, preferred doctors, or frequent visits? If you already expect to use your healthcare plan a lot, you’ll likely need to choose a higher-priced plan with stronger coverage.
A rule of thumb for considering strength of coverage is the cost of Premiums and the Metal level of your coverage (bronze, silver, gold, platinum). This is just a starting point — be sure to read your summary of benefits.
The marketplace applications will prompt you to enter your medications and existing doctors to help you identify plans that fit those needs.
Lifestyle
Do you travel a lot? If you do, you will likely want to consider PPO plans as opposed to HMO plans (more on that below).
Budget
If you don’t have existing needs and think you are healthy, you may want to determine your coverage based upon your budget. But remember, plans with lower premiums often have higher deductibles and copays.
Types of health insurance plans for for freelancers
Your insurance plan type determines which doctors you can see and how much you have to pay for care. When comparing plans, you’ll want to pay attention to how they cover in-network and out-of-network care.
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans require you to select a Primary Care Provider (PCP). This provider serves as a “gatekeeper” for all additional care you receive. Your Primary Care Provider must refer you to a specialist, lab, or medical facility — even for preventative screenings.
There are a couple of exceptions: emergencies and OB-GYN.
HMO plans are not very flexible and will not cover out-of-network providers. Said another way, make sure that any provider you see is covered by your HMO before seeing them, or you will likely be stuck with the whole bill.
Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans usually provide coverage for providers both in-network and out-of-network. You do not have to choose a PCP and referrals are not required.
These plans are a good idea if you travel a lot and may find yourself needing medical care outside of your home state. However, out-of-network care is still going to be more expensive than in-network care.
HSA-eligible plans allow you to pay for medical expenses from a Health Savings Account (or HSA). You can contribute money towards an HSA account pre-tax and use that income to pay for qualified medical expenses (excluding your premiums). Qualified medical expenses include deductibles, dental services, vision care, prescription drugs, co-pays, psychiatric treatments, and other qualified expenses not covered by your health insurance plan.
This helps every dollar stretch further for your healthcare, but are usually attached to higher-priced premiums.
Metal ratings for health insurance plans
So what’s the deal with those metals?
Generally, the more valuable the metal, the stronger (and more expensive) the coverage. Technically, metals are defined by how much of the cost is covered by the insurance company instead of the individual. A bronze plan covers the least amount out-of-pocket, and platinum covers the most.
Roughly, insurance would cover out of pocket:
Bronze: 60% of expenses
Silver: 70% of expenses
Gold: 80% of expenses
Platinum: 90% of expenses
But remember, higher metal grades mean higher premiums. If you expect fewer medical expenses, you’ll likely want lower premiums through lower metal ratings.
Dental and Vision insurance plans for freelancers
Marketplaces offer dental and vision insurance too. The same thinking applies for Dental and Vision as above — consider your specific needs and likelihood of what you’ll need.
Some vision plans will help towards the cost of new glasses or contacts.
Most dental plans will cover the cost of routine cleanings as well as pay towards other specialty services.
Both plans are typically at a much lower monthly premium and come with their own summary of benefits just like the health insurance plans.
Enrolling in your chosen health insurance plan(s)
Once your income is confirmed, your application is approved, and your plan is chosen, you will be asked to pay your first month’s premiums before January to activate your coverage for the following calendar year.
Your plans are tied to accounts with each provider, and the marketplace you’ve chosen should route you to their websites to setup your account and confirm your plan.
Final thoughts
I know this sounds like a lot — and it is. The healthcare system is tough to navigate, especially for freelancers individuals like me.
But it’s something you can wrap your head around. While it’s no longer illegal to not have insurance, you can really find yourself in a huge bind quickly through unexpected illness or accident.
Remember that new private companies like Health Sherpa and Catch will make recommendations for you based upon your responses to their questions. These tools haven’t always been in place and make it a lot easier to navigate now.
All marketplaces have agents standing by to help answer your questions as you go through the process too.
Remember that open enrollment is from November 1 through December 15, and be sure to select a plan that is right for you before then!
Start your application with:
