Health insurance

[markallen]

Health-care reform notwithstanding, insurance is one of the top concerns of freelancers. Are you insured through a spouse, paying your way or going without? Any tips for fellow freelancers seeking health coverage?

[RuthTC]

I use something called BeneCare, which may only be available for people in Upstate NY. They provide access to group rates for individuals - you have to submit your most-recent Schedule C to show that you're really a freelancer or entrepreneur, and then you get coverage through one of the local or regional insurers.

Local chambers of commerce used to have insurance-only policies for independents, although some of them have discontinued that service.

A lot of professional organizations have group rates for their members. Could be something for ACES to look into providing.

[Rochelle Craig]

As a budding copyeditor freelancer, I am very interested in health insurance. It will make a big difference in my ability to leave my current fulltime corporate job and pursue all of the writing and copyediting projects that are pending.

If anyone among us has researched this in depth and can share their information, perhaps we can decide on a group plan for ACES. A group plan may be dependent on a certain number of people signing up.