It's a New Year and many of you are trying to decide if this is the year you finally quit your day job and go out on your own. Why not? Other than missing the steady paycheck, the only other factor causing hesitation is the sudden lack of health benefits. Option one is to fork over the dough (and usually, a lot of it) and get some type of private health insurance with lousy coverage and a painfully high deductible to make the monthly payments affordable. Option two is to go without health insurance all together and hope you never really need it. Or convince yourself by the time you do need it you'll have plenty of extra cash to cover the cost of a doctor's visit.
But a new law in Massachusetts may remove the healthcare debate and make it an easy decision to become self-employed.
As of January 1, the State of Massachusetts is requiring all residents to have healthcare. Those without it risk having to pay a penalty. The monthly fine adds up to anywhere from $900 to nearly two-thousand dollars a year (depending on age, marital and economic status). Being forced to pay a state-mandated fine for not having health insurance may be enough to make the self-employment decision an easy one. You can't afford healthcare or a fine, so it's back to work you go. Or, you're going to have to pay a fine anyway, so go ahead and sign up for healthcare and get on with being self-employed. The jury is still out on well this law will work, so let's check back at the end of the year. Maybe a thousand bucks penalty still isn't enough to make monthly healthcare fees worthwhile.
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