At Dribbble, we’re proud to host a community of talented designers, helping them find new work opportunities and scale their audience. As our community continues to grow, we’ve seen an increase in designers going freelance, and with that in mind, our team wants to continue supporting independent creatives in all aspects of running a business—including finding healthcare coverage. That’s why we’re excited to continue working with Stride Health this year to help our freelance community relieve any stress around finding the right health insurance plan.
Open enrollment ends on December 15th so make sure you get enrolled as soon as possible so you’re covered for 2019! Not sure where to start? With the help of Stride, we’ve rounded up 5 helpful things to keep in mind when choosing a plan that works best for you.
Photo by Thought Catalog via Unsplash.
1. It might be cheaper than you think: Health insurance can be expensive, but there are ways to lower your payments with subsidies. Remember designers can deduct things like software subscriptions, advertising, website costs and business cards from their income, which will increase the likelihood that you’ll qualify for a subsidy. Check out this guide to help estimate your income.
2. You probably have more options this year: More insurance carriers are participating in the healthcare marketplace this year, which means you’ll have more plans to choose from. Stride has a recommendation engine to find the right plan for you based on your specific needs.
3. The plan you had this year will probably look different next year: Insurance companies don’t have to keep plan prices or details the same from year-to-year, so it’s always a good idea to evaluate your current plan, how it might change for next year, and if it still best fits all of your needs. If everything still looks good, you can make it easy on yourself by passively renewing your plan.
4. You might be able to find a better plan for less: Prices change every year, and there’s a chance you could pay less than you did last year for a better plan because subsidies have increased in some cases. Use Stride’s recommendation tool to compare plans and prices.
5. All Qualified Health Plans cover all of your key health benefits regardless of insurance carrier and come with lots of FREE stuff: Qualified Health Plans (QHP) are mandated by the Affordable Care Act to cover some portion of 10 specific medical services including lab services, prescription drugs, mental health/substance abuse, and a boatload of preventive//wellness services and chronic disease management and more.
So now that you’ve got the basics down, find your perfect plan and make sure to get enrolled before the Dec 15th so you have coverage for 2019.
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