Life-stage first

Four people ask us four completely different questions

Coverage pages describe products. These pages describe situations. Start with the one that sounds like your life.

The four life stages

Self-employed

01 · Self-employed

You are the HR department

How do I get covered when my income moves every month?

Most of the people we help file a 1099. Photographers, stylists, framers, drivers, developers, physical therapists on contract. The plan choice is the easy part. The income estimate is the part that decides what you pay.

Reporting a good year late. Tell the Marketplace within 30 days and the credit adjusts gradually instead of arriving as one repayment.
Buying the lowest premium without checking the drug list. That is how a $40 saving becomes a $900 cost.

Read the self-employed path

Two adults, two kids, one deductible you can live with

Families

02 · Families

Two adults, two kids, one deductible you can live with

How do I cover everyone without a five-figure worst case?

Family plans have two deductibles and two out-of-pocket maximums: an individual one and a family one. Knowing which applies when is the difference between a manageable year and a nasty surprise in March.

Aggregate family deductibles. If nobody can use the plan until the family number is met, a cheap premium is not cheap.
Paediatric dental is included in Marketplace plans, but adult dental almost never is.

Read the families path

Seven months, and the clock has already started

Turning 65

03 · Turning 65

Seven months, and the clock has already started

When exactly do I sign up, and for what?

Your Initial Enrolment Period is seven months long: the three months before the month you turn 65, your birthday month, and the three months after. Most of the expensive mistakes in Medicare happen inside those seven months.

Missing the Part B window. The late enrolment penalty is generally 10% of the standard premium for every full 12-month period you could have had it, and it can last as long as you have Part B.
Letting the six-month Medigap guaranteed-issue window close. After it, most Tennessee applications face medical underwriting.

Read the turning 65 path

A benefits package without a benefits department

Business owners

04 · Business owners

A benefits package without a benefits department

Group plan, ICHRA, or nothing at all?

Below fifty full-time equivalent employees you are not required to offer coverage. That makes this a recruiting and retention decision, which means it should be built around what your people actually value.

Missing participation by one employee. Waivers for other coverage usually fix it, but only if documented before submission.
Promising a benefit before the carrier has issued. Quotes are not coverage.

Read the business owners path

Still not sure which one you are?

Plenty of people are two of these at once. Answer four questions and we will work it out with you.

Our help is free to you. We are paid by the carrier you choose, and the premium is the same whether you use us or enrol on your own.

Get free help (423) 555-0243 All coverage lines