Self Employed Health Insurance For Business Owners

Healthy NY for small employers makes it possible for small business owners to provide health care benefits to their employees.

For small business owners to be eligible to offer Healthy NY plans, they must meet the following requirements:

• The must be doing business in New York state
• The business must have at least 1 but not more than 50 employees who are eligible for Healthy NY
• The income of 30% of the employees must not be more than $40,000 (gross) annually
• The employer must not have provided health insurance coverage to their employees in the past 12 months

If eligible, the employer must be willing to abide by the following guidelines:

• 50% of the employees must join the Healthy NY program and at least 1 of them has an income of not more than $40,000. In counting towards the 50%, the employer may count employees who have coverage through other public health insurance programs or other sources of coverage such as being a dependent on a family member’s policy.

• The employer must be willing to cover 50% of the premium cost.
• The employer can only offer Healthy NY coverage to full-time employees – those who work not less than 20 hours per week or those whose income is not more than $40,000 (gross) annually.

By offering health insurance coverage through Healthy NY the employer is entitled to tax advantages through tax credits.

Self Employed Health Insurance for Sole Proprietors

Self employed individuals or small business owners must fill out a different application form from individuals.

Sole proprietors are defined as the only employee and only owner of a business.

Healthy NY is available to sole proprietors whose income is within the program limit. This makes it a good self employed health insurance option for those who are just starting to be on their own.

Below is the income limit guide:

* All dependent family members should be counted even if they don’t live with you or you do not plan to include them in your policy.

* Do not count people whom you may live with but are not dependent on you for financial support.

* Pregnant women are counted as two people.

* In counting gross income, monthly business expenses can be deducted.

Aside from the income eligibility, other requirements also apply:

• You must be a resident of New York state
• You or your spouse must currently be working as a sole-proprietor
• You should not be qualified to apply for Medicare
• You should have no health insurance coverage for the past 12 months or you have coverage but you’re losing it due to the following reasons:
  • losing your job
  • losing your group health coverage
  • termination or end of COBRA coverage
  • moving to a new job
  • moving to a new home address
  • death of a family member
  • end of coverage from another public health insurance program