Health insurance options for the self employed

I was reviewing this discussion with my wife. She asked me to look into Farmers Insurance. She read or heard that individuals can get some sort of group coverage through them, and maybe not Obamacare?

Any experience with Farmer's here?
 
Brad W said:
Any experience with Farmer's here?
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The last I looked Farmer's only provides home and auto insurance? However, there are several co-ops that offer group health insurance for people in the agriculture industry. Several friends get their insurance in that manner, and I had looked into options as an "employee" of one. But in the end the marketplace was my only real option in my state.
 
I just pulled it up and look like that's it. Looks like Farmer's cover most types of insurance....but not health/medical
car yes, motorcycle yes, boat yes, pet yes, umbrella liability yes, renters yes....but no medical stuff

And I didn't get deep into it but I searched for healthcare co-ops.... a lo of that points to the Christian ministry plans but I also found mention of the healthcare co-op type of insurance as having been created by the ACA.... so it seems that Obama care has it's fingers into that market too!
 
There have been several attempts to put together groups of (actual, literal) farmers for the purpose of putting together some kind of reasonable health insurance, because it is a real problem for full time farmers. Most tackle it by having their wife work a job in town that can extend coverage to them. To my knowledge, nothing useful has come to fruition. The problem is that the ACA sets such high minimum coverage standards that affordable catastrophic coverage is not allowed to exist any longer. The last time I looked seriously at one of these plans being offered through the Farm Bureau, the cost, while cheaper than the non-subsidized exchange plans, was still quite a bit more than I could've gotten on the exchange with the subsidy.
 
Brad W said:
I just pulled it up and look like that's it. Looks like Farmer's cover most types of insurance....but not health/medical
car yes, motorcycle yes, boat yes, pet yes, umbrella liability yes, renters yes....but no medical stuff

And I didn't get deep into it but I searched for healthcare co-ops.... a lo of that points to the Christian ministry plans but I also found mention of the healthcare co-op type of insurance as having been created by the ACA.... so it seems that Obama care has it's fingers into that market too!
Click to expand...
correcting the record, appearently they do offer something

Individual Family Health Care Plans | Farm Bureau Health Plans

Farm Bureau Health Plans offer four individual and family coverage plans. Options include preventative health, dental and vision, major medical and more.
fbhealthplans.com
 
Farm Bureau is a good option and has good prices IF you’re totally healthy. They do not participate in the marketplace and do not have to abide by ACA rules. If you have any health complications at all, they will decline to offer coverage. I had an aortic valve replacement ten years ago, FB won’t touch me with a 10ft pole.

I did Cobra for 18months then went to the marketplace. It is a high deductible high out of pocket plan, so is only really useful for the big stuff, but the monthly payments are reasonable. Routine care still comes from our pocket, but we do get insurance negotiated pricing. One thing I do is ask the provider which is cheaper, insurance negotiated price or just paying cash. Usually the negotiated price is best, but now and then cash price beats it.

Like others have advised, we entered early retirement with some non-qualified funds, which allows us to sit in the bottom tax bracket as well as garner more ACA tax credits.
 
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