Expertise and professionalism varies greatly among insurance agents licensed to sell health insurance. Often, the same license that allows you to sell life and disability insurance covers health insurance too. While many agents can sell you a policy, that does not mean a particular agent will serve you well.
You should settle for nothing less than a senior agent that specializes in health insurance and serves self-employed individuals. To find one, or a couple to choose from, ask your car and home insurance agents to recommend one. If they say "I can serve you" politely decline. Plan B to get a senior referral would be to call auto insurance agents out of the phone book and ask for a senior health agent. The property/casualty specialists have no conflict of intrest and thus no reason to not give you a good referral.
You don't want the same person writing your health insurance as writes your car. You want a senior health insurance writter that is fully committed to successfully navigating the ongoing health insurance storms that rage today.
The notion of "affordable" health insurance gives rise to false hopes. It's all too expensive. If you want the kind of coverage expediters should have, you are going to have to pay a pretty penny for it. The money you supposedly save on a lower price product will be cold comfort if you find yourself in an Urgent Care clinic in a distant city on a Sunday afternoon with a pain in your side, and they say you must be hospitalized and they won't honor the insurance card you have in your pocket.
Economists project health insurance cost increases of 15% per year for the next several years. Bad news. The only worse news would be you falling ill or becomming injured without the coverage you need.
If you can't afford full health coverage as a self-employed expediter, you should seriously consider another field of endeavor. If you are out there without good health coverage, you are risking your health and wealth all at once. It's not worth it. Get a job where healthcare benefits are provide.
For self-employed individuals, the cost of health insurance is a cost of running a successful business. Get a price quote and include it on your spreadsheet as a fixed-cost expense. If you cannot run profitably with your healthcare costs included, listen to what your numbers are telling you and either change your business approach to increase your income, or find another line of work.
