I've worn many professional hats in my career including that of a freelance writer and contract editor. If I were still plying the sole-proprietor waters and didn't have the health insurance I have now through my current employer, I'd want 2014 to hurry up and get here already.
During my first two stints working for myself I was fortunate enough to be able to get health insurance through my wife's workplace. I'd often joke with friends that I wouldn't have been able to go out on my own if I couldn't be covered through her. Thing is, I wasn't really joking.
That became very clear to me the past few years. In 2004 I began work for a start-up company that counted a grand total of four full-time employees spread across three states. As you can imagine, health insurance wasn't high on the list of things the company would spend money on. In the five years I worked there it never offered health insurance, for two simple reasons: it was too expensive and all four of us had access to group insurance through our spouses.
It was cost shifting of a different sort. Unwittingly, our wives' employers partially bankrolled the start-up by allowing us to ride piggyback on their insurance plans.
That all changed in 2006. My wife, tired of long hours and stress in the corporate world, decided it was time for her to hang out her own shingle as a self-employed human resources consultant, a big change for her, to be sure. Among many conversations we had about whether she would be able to drum up enough business to make a go of it, the other big concern was the stark reality that we were on our own for finding health insurance for our two kids and us.
We landed a policy for $1,100 a month that had deductibles of $3,000 per individual and $6,000 for the family. Our policy was pretty cheap, comparatively speaking. Then again, we are the kind of family insurance executives drool over -- no chronic conditions, no regular prescription medications, good family medical history, low number of doctor visits per year. About the only tic against us was that I could have pushed away from the dinner table more often over the years.
Despite our insurance being a "good deal" it occurred to me that it was entirely possible for us to spend $19,000 for healthcare in a year counting our monthly payments and deductibles before our insurance company would spend a single penny. Now consider this: The median household income in this country is somewhere around $50,000 per year.
For some folks looking to start out on their own and spend a couple of years building their income from zero, a potential $19,000 bill for health care isn't simply a hurdle, it's a roadblock. Those few who don't balk at this cost and forge ahead anyway, are faced with either choosing to bite the bullet and devote a solid chunk of money to pay for health insurance, or to simply go without.
My guess is that many go without and roll the dice that nothing catastrophic will happen. As if there isn't enough risk in starting your own business, in today's healthcare environment being a sole proprietor without affordable health insurance means literally risking it all for a dream.
That's why January 1, 2014 is such an important day for the self-employed sole proprietors who are legion in this country. The state health insurance exchanges and a sliding scale of health insurance subsidies based on income, self-employment will help lower the health insurance cost roadblock. After all, people should chose their vocation on what they want to do, and not make employment decisions based on a quest to get health insurance.