Healthcare for Freelancers
Healthcare for Freelancers with Kadri Augustin and Melissa Blatt
On this episode of Financially Naked: Stories from The Financial Gym, our host is Kadri Augustin, Financial Trainer, and he is joined by Melissa Blatt, founder and CEO of Indipop, to discuss healthshares.
Podcast Notes
Melissa was in the corporate world for over 20 years, and when she left all she was offered was COBRA, a continuation of her insurance for 18 months at 102% of the employer’s cost.
She was becoming an independent contractor, and she couldn’t afford COBRA. When she searched the marketplace, they based her insurance cost on her previous salary. Pre-Covid, there were 57 million freelancers and 12 million solo-preneurs.
When she researched insurance, she kept coming across healthshares. She started with one healthshare on her website and ended up adding two more along with dental and vision plans.
Traditional insurance typically includes a monthly premium and annual deductible. A Healthshare is where you are in a community, or a pooled group of people, and you pay a membership.
In a healthshare, if a medical need occurs, depending on the plan, you have a different responsibility amount. In most cases, this is up to three times for an individual. After you pay your responsibility, the cost is shared with the community. This is more concierge medicine, where you have a team of people helping you get the right care at a fair cost.
Each plan is unique, some give you an insurance card and use a network. Others you call before you seek treatment and the team can help you with your medical need.
Healthshares are experiencing growth, and Indipop curates them.
One plan on the site offers vision and dental, unlimited primary care visits, and a maximum out-of-pocket of $3,000 for individual or family.
Melissa wants to offer different plans with different features, and she eventually wants to add standalone dental and vision plans. Her goal is to offer simple and affordable options.
Overall, if there is a medical need over $1,000, you are responsible for $1,000. Anything under $1,000 is your responsibility. If you need to do multiple things for one body part or one issue, it will all count toward your out-of-pocket maximum. You are considered a cash-pay patient on these plans.
Most who join Indipop are not going to the doctor, they are mostly concerned with the what-if situations.
Healthshares were started in ministries and churches. Many had a religious component. Melissa tries to find middle-of-the-road healthshares. You need to read the guidelines and make sure you are comfortable with the plan you choose.
Melissa see the most savings with families. One family had a traditional plan that cost over $1,000 a month with out-of-pocket costs of $16,000 per year. They were able to find a healthshare plan that cost $800 a month.
One reason to stay with a traditional healthcare plan is if you have a pre-existing condition. Nothing will be apples to apples, you need to read the fine print whether it is a healthshare or a traditional insurance plan.
Right now, Indipop offers two plans and you can choose individual or family coverage, or you can choose business if it is for your employees. There is a high level overview of each plan.
There are plans for $250 per month that are for major medical. The higher the deductible, the lower the premium. Mental health care is available with the plans that are offered.
When looking at plans, the top things to look at are:
The guidelines for how long you need to wait to see a specialist
Your financial responsibility if a medical need occurs
Is it easy to understand your out of pocket cost?
Melissa looks at healthshares that have more than 15,000 people in their pool. Do as much research as possible, because healthshares are a newer concept.
Resources Mentioned
Website: www.indipop.co
Email: hello@indipop.co
Coupon Code: Use 15INDI to receive 15% off your monthly membership to The Financial Gym