As a businessman or would-be-entrepreneur, you face great challenges and take significant financial risks. Your health and medical care, however, is one department where you wouldn’t want to gamble. As a responsible manager, you should scope out the health insurance options available for small business owners like you.

Recently, managed care providers have been accommodating “Groups of One,” meaning you can buy a policy for yourself with premiums comparable to group insurance rates. The greatest plus of group health insurance policies is “guaranteed issue,” meaning they can’t exclude a person due to health problems.

You can also check if there are trade associations or chambers of commerce in your area that may offer membership coupled with health insurance.

If you wish to, get a plan to include your employees. Being an attractive benefit for prospective employees, a group health insurance plan can get you the best workers. In addition there are special tax deductions for businesses that offer health insurance.

To purchase the insurance plan that suits you best, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic types of managed care providers in the market:

Health Maintenance Organizations

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) give you a range of health services for a set monthly fee. You pick your choice of a primary care physician from their list of affiliated doctors. With HMOs, you will not receive coverage if you go beyond their network, except for emergency cases. Most of the time, you become eligible for insurance benefits without a minimum payment (deductible), but you may be required a small copay per office visit and a steady monthly premium.

Preferred Provider Organization

The Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) is another type of care provider that extends health care through an approved group of providers, or through other providers outside the network. Usually, you have to pay a small copay and satisfy a deductible before benefits are paid. It’s less expensive to visit one of the providers in the network. You may seek out-of-network health care services, but your share of the bill will be higher.

Point of Service Plans

Similar to HMOs, your primary physician attends to you and refers to other in-network doctors in Point of Service (POS) plans. You may choose to see an out-of-network doctor and the plan will pay a predetermined amount of the bill; you will shoulder the bigger amount. These plans usually cost more, but your choice of attending physician is not restricted.

Health Savings Accounts

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are not part of managed care. It is a relatively new way to pay for health services. Savings accounts have tax incentives and can be accessed whenever the need for health care funding arises. Any surplus in the account earns tax-free interest.

Bottom-line, your own business is your source of income. You are its most valuable player and asset. Take care of your health and ensure your business’ smooth sail. Study your health insurance options and make the right choice.

By: Charles Crawley