Health Insurance for Self-Employed Professionals

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Let's talk about health insurance.

This is a very tough topic for the self-employed, 'cause it's one of the bigger expenses that you have in the business, whether you're starting out or, you know, further down the line when you have employees.

Um, and the, the truth is, after ACA premiums or, uh, the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits were expired at the end of 2025 due to new rules, uh, the costs on the marketplace, or the public marketplace b- really rose for a lot of people.

And this really impacted the self-employed because of the way that they get paid and the way that they, uh, put their finances into the tax form.

It w- had a much bigger impact on the self-employed, uh, beyond just those who just generally, uh, can't afford health insurance as well.

And so, you can see sort of the impact.

Like, the, the reality is, is like now that, um, the, the subsidies are gone, if you are, if you are making above the 400%, um, level, their, uh, federal poverty level, there's a cliff where the moment that you make above that, then your health insurance rises considerably.

Um, and so let's say it's somewhere around 63,000 for single, 129,000 for, uh, a family of four, and the tax credit disappears once you just reach that mark.

So you're going from very little, uh, healthcare costs to huge healthcare costs, right? And, uh, it's a...

it can become a problem.

It can become a, uh, a, a cash flow problem.

It can become a, a care problem, 'cause you maybe get worse care.

And so all of that kind of con- coalesces into a planning concern and something that you really need to think about, um, as you are potentially going through open enrollment in the next, uh, couple months.

When it comes to the self-employed, there's really three ways that most self-employed people get coverage.

Uh, the first one is the easiest one.

If you are married and have a spouse who has a full-time job that has access to healthcare, that is the easiest way to get health insurance.

It's the cheapest way to get health insurance, especially as you're starting your business and you're moving along in the business.

Yeah, you don't get the, um, the tax write-off as much because it's going through the employer, um, that, uh, through your spouse.

But it's hugely helpful in just in terms of the savings and costs of the monthly that it's far beyond the tax benefits.

And so if you can go that route, it's almost always better to go that route than trying to shop it yourself.

The second way is the ACA marketplace, so the, the public marketplace that is available to people to shop for plans.

And this is... there's a real component not only at the federal level but the state level.

Uh, for instance, certain states don't allow or allow, uh, the, the plans to kind of rise in cost the older you get.

So there's a ratio connected to your age.