Are you saying that you are unable to purchase health insurance in your hell world? I live in the United States, and when I was working as a 1099 contract worker, I bought health insurance for my family for little more than what an employer deducts from my paycheck. It was actually a very nice plan.
> when I was working as a 1099 contract worker, I bought health insurance for my family for little more than what an employer deducts from my paycheck.
How long has it been since then?
What most people would consider "good" insurance costs $1500-2000 per month for a family.
I've never seen an employer chip in less than 50% of that cost.
It's been about 2.5 years. Was paying under $700 for the two of us.
The difference in pay between W2 and 1099 was $30,000 / year. This more than covered all taxes and health insurance costs. (And even the W2 rate was much higher than typical full-time salaries.)
The main difference in taxes is the 15.3% you pay towards FICA, where an employer has to cover most of it for W-2 (you still pay 6.2%.) I don't remember all the exact numbers any more, but if 1099 is ~25% more than W-2, odds are pretty good you can do better on your own, especially if you take advantage of the solo 401(k) to reduce your tax load.
What did this buy, though? That premium sounds like either a "health sharing ministry" or some kind of barebones catastrophic plan. Both are smart options if a person has good income and a financial cushion, but they're a much lesser coverage than what most big employers would provide.
> if 1099 is ~25% more than W-2, odds are pretty good you can do better on your own
I've used a wider margin as a rule of thumb when considering it in the past. I'll have to rerun numbers based on my current income and benefits.
> especially if you take advantage of the solo 401(k) to reduce your tax load.
That secret $54k deduction... probably the biggest benefit for anyone who is moderately high-income and retirement-minded.
As I said, it was a good plan. I don't remember exact numbers, but low deductible (maybe $2000), low co-pays, lots of things covered such as (some) fertility, mental health, etc. We were 39/34 at the time.
It was not a health share ministry or barebones catastrophic. It was something like Blue Cross Silver, though I don't remember the exact name (and the name would reveal more about my location than I probably should share.)
My comparison was to a plan with a previous employer that cost me $400/month (my portion) and was worse. So paying "$300 more" for a better plan also took a lot of the sting out of it.
A silver level high deductible health plan in a high cost of living state is about $400 per person for early 30 year olds. You can assume health insurance costs $350 per person, plus or minus 10%, in healthy years. Then you have to multiply by age rating factors. So a family of 4 with parents around 40 will be ~$1,500 per month for a silver HDHP.
