Health Insurance for self emplyed

[roweandmalidotcom]

When I stopped going to school to run the family business I lost my health coverage. I've gone quite a few years now without it but I figure it may be a good time to figure that out.

I don't often get sick or require doctors attention/medication but god forbid something happens I'd rather not leave the family with some bill to cover. What have you guys used or would you recommend? Ideally it includes some level of dental since paying for yearly check ups is annoying when it costs $100+ for some fluoride and floss . I have a few cavities too that likely over time will need to get looked at so I'd prefer to not pay straight out of my pocket.

I skimmed the bluecross health plans and was quoted somewhere in $65.00 monthly for basic coverage and hospital benefits. But I'm not sure what other options are out there that are good.

for an individual male your age the number seems about right, keep in mind that the companies that undrwrite these plans hav eto be competitive so a couple dollars here or there for the same coverage should be expected. If you ar not using the stuff right now, within your business, set up a helath savings accountHSA and have the other critical expense related items such as life insurance, disability as your own within the company.

[ahmahndoode]

Quick google turned up this link indicating you can do without broker but the employment contracts have to be properly structured.

http://www.taxtips.ca/smallbusiness/phsp.htm

I will futher look into it.

has anyone learned more about doing it this way? this would be the most efficient way to reimburse thorough the corporation without admin fees to a third party

[sassysue]

currently im a sole proprietor and currently have brocks health and they give me max 1500 per person per year just curious is there any other company that does unlimited versus a max i would have to upgrade my license to corp to get the unlimited thanks.

Who else has the 5% fee or something less would be interested in going to multiple companies

[ahmahndoode]

currently im a sole proprietor and currently have brocks health and they give me max 1500 per person per year just curious is there any other company that does unlimited versus a max i would have to upgrade my license to corp to get the unlimited thanks.

Who else has the 5% fee or something less would be interested in going to multiple companies

You can try Puhl: http://www.puhlemployeebenefits.com/

I learned some companies charge gst on the premium and others don't so the actual cost can be higher

[ravindertulsiani]

I use to be with Manulife Follow Me plan. The plan is intended for those who are leaving their employment and are currently covered and jumping into the self-employed category. follow me allows them to continue to get group-type coverage, they were about $350/month. here's the link: http://www.coverme.com/products/followme-health.jsp

Take care,
Ravinder Tulsiani

[Mesoplanet]

I own a small unincorporated business. We are two employees working for this company and we are looking for Health Insurance programs.

I talked with Brock Health yesterday. In Quebec, private health insurance plans paid for through an employer are a taxable benefit on the individual personal tax return. The cost of the private insurance plan would be a deductible expense to the corporation. Would you enroll in such program if you were based in Quebec or is there another plan I could subscribe to ?

I am more looking at personal benefits for myself and my partner because our business do not really need additional business expenses because we have low revenue.

[Just Confused]

currently im a sole proprietor and currently have brocks health and they give me max 1500 per person per year just curious is there any other company that does unlimited versus a max i would have to upgrade my license to corp to get the unlimited thanks.

Who else has the 5% fee or something less would be interested in going to multiple companies

The $1500 per person limit is a CRA restriction for sole proprietorships. All the PHSP providers are obliged to place that limit on sole proprietors. The only way to remove that restriction is to incorporate. I'm a big fan of corporations; once you are working full-time in your business there is no point in staying as a sole prop. The PHSP limitation is just one small advantage of doing so.

[Robert125]

Our business needed good health coverage but we could never justify the high monthly premiums for a traditional health plan such as Blue Cross. We ended up setting up a PreTax Health Spending Account and we are very pleased with that decision.

We now manage our own health benefits budget, and can easily control and track what we spend each year. Here is a summary of this great opportunity.

Canada Revenue Agency allows incorporated companies, like ours, to pull out money out from your business, tax free,to cover out-of-pocket health care expenses for owner-employees, employees and dependents.To do this you have to set up a Health Spending Account (HSA).

With the PreTax Health Spending Account, our company now gets to write off 100% of the health care expenses we claim.

In addition, we are now personally reimbursed for all of these out of pocket expenses. Since there are minimal costs to set this up — it was really a 'no brainer' for us.
If you do happen to have a traditional health plan (e.g. Blue Cross) then PreTax Health will cover all the left-over ‘out-of-pocket’ expenses.

This Health Spending Account also give you access to 100% coverage on a much wider range of health care services -- most things you can think of are covered.
The website can be found here: http://pretaxhealth.com/canada-most-...-hsa-phsp.html