Health Insurance for the self employed; Flexcare®?

[RogerRabbit]

Does anyone have Flexcare™ or something similar, designed for self employed/ small business owners:

http://coverme.com/LH/CoverMe/Consu...nce=ON&module=P&command=load&webPlanId=001006

'If you are one of the millions of Canadians without an employee health plan - and therefore, vulnerable to health care expenses not covered by your Government Health Insurance Plan - supplemental health care coverage could be right for you.

For only dollars a day, Flexcare® can offer you a unique combination of health benefits that provide you and your family with comprehensive coverage you simply shouldn't do without.'


Do you like it and why?

 

[stainless]

When you anaylze how much you have to pay them per month, its cheaper to pay your dentist yourself

 

[RogerRabbit]

coverme.com

When you anaylze how much you have to pay them per month, its cheaper to pay your dentist yourself

Depends on your personel needs & plan. As you get older, I think the needs rise...

I heard that if you own your Canadian Controlled Corp., that you can write off the Ins. plan and you do not have to take it as a taxable benefit or here is what they also suggest:

http://secure.lhplans.com/LH/CoverMe/miniWhy/English/PaysForItself/D.html

An interesting argument...

 

[tbone]

If you can get it paid with pre-tax dollars it might be an ok deal. The problem with the coverage basically comes down to 2 main things:

1) Any pre-existing conditions won't be covered, so if you already need medication or something done they won't pay tou back for it.

2) The policy renews yearly, so if you get something that requires expensive treatment you're going to start paying hefty premium increases that will most likely wipe out the benefits you're receiving.

Everything is capped as well and dental coverage is actually capped at a pretty low number so pre-tax dollars can make all the difference. You can also use a company like Bencaide if you have flexibility over how you'r paid to have pre-tax dollars allocated to a spending account that can in turn be used to fund any medical/dental expenses - might make more sense for alot of people.

 

[ham2004]

A truly remarkable question..

Self paid health insurance is like paying for life insurance, its expensive and you don't really want to use it.

 

[tomato_boy]

I heard that if you own your Canadian Controlled Corp., that you can write off the Ins. plan and you do not have to take it as a taxable benefit or here is what they also suggest:

I bought into a group health insurance plan offered by Manulife (UofT alumni plan). My premiums are treated as a business expense and can be legally deducted when doing my taxes. I can't make the deduction if I just pay a la carte for dental and other health services. So although the premiums may seem expensive at first compared to paying as you go, it actually works out to be about the same plus you get insurance for health services other than the dentist. Useful if you also have to go to the optometrist.

Seeing what my dentist charges, I regret not having gone into dentistry.

 

[Svend]

If the dentist knows you don't have a plan and you're a regular patient, they'll often cut you a break. They are more interested in gouging a soulless insurance corporation than a person they meet face to face.

 

[r2d2]

insurance

I have been a small business owner for many years and during this time I have reviewed many different plans. The bottom line is they are very expensive and I have always decided it is cheaper to pay as you go rather than enroll in a plan. And as was stated earlier, if you let your doctor and dentist know you do not have a plan they will usually cut you a break. I have 3 kids and fortunately all my family is healthy except for the usual minor ailments but even with paying for my own prescriptions and dentist I feel I am still ahead of the game.

 

[RogerRabbit]

I bought into a group health insurance plan offered by Manulife (UofT alumni plan). My premiums are treated as a business expense and can be legally deducted when doing my taxes. I can't make the deduction if I just pay a la carte for dental and other health services. So although the premiums may seem expensive at first compared to paying as you go, it actually works out to be about the same plus you get insurance for health services other than the dentist. Useful if you also have to go to the optometrist.

Thanks everyone for your input!

Given how sickness/ illness is more comon, i.e.:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...le&cid=1118615410660&call_pageid=971358637177

'Jun. 13, 2005. 01:00 AM

What's causing cancer?
Chemicals fingered as rates reach epidemic proportions, by Mitchell Anderson



Cancer in Canada is now projected to afflict one in every 2.2 men and one in every 2.6 women in their lifetime. In the 1930s, those numbers were less that one in 10. What's happening? Why are we now seeing what many are calling a "cancer epidemic"?
Some would suggest we are simply an aging population and cancer is a disease of the old. Not true. Recent statistics show that the net incidence rate of cancer has increased 25 per cent for males and 20 per cent for females from 1974 to 2005 — after correcting for the effects of aging.
Children are increasingly the victims. Researchers in Britain have shown that certain childhood cancers such as leukemia and brain cancer have increased by more than a third since the 1950s.
In Canada, hundreds of millions of dollars are raised and spent for cancer research and treatment. The elephant in the room, however, is the contribution of environmental toxins and whether many of the cancers striking Canadians can be avoided rather than simply managed.
The World Health Organization estimates that fully 25 per cent of cancers worldwide are caused by occupational and environmental factors other than smoking. You don't have to look far for some potential chemical culprits.
There are more than 85,000 chemicals that are currently licensed for use in North America. Less than half have ever been tested for human health risk and even fewer for potential environmental impacts.
The U.S. Centers For Disease Control recently turned their attention toward pollution detection — not in the environment, but within the human body. Their study in 2002 found the presence of 81 different toxic chemicals, including PCBs, benzene and other carcinogens in their sampling of 2,500 people tested.
It is somewhat of a no-brainer that reducing exposure to known carcinogens will reduce the risk of developing cancer. Surprisingly, this simple logic seems to have been lost on our federal government. Many chemicals that are scientifically demonstrated carcinogens or otherwise toxic are freely used here without any legal obligation to identify them on the label. Some of these same chemicals are entirely banned elsewhere. A trip to your local supermarket reveals a small sample of these hidden poisons:
Mothballs contain either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene, both of which are carcinogenic. A recent U.S. study linked mothball use to an increased incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Polycarbonate plastics used in food-grade plastic containers such as water bottles can leach Bisphenol A, an estrogen-mimicking chemical linked to a variety of disorders, including hormone-related birth defects, learning disabilities, prostate cancer and neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Several leading perfumes, nail polishes and other cosmetic products sold in Canada contain the endocrine-disrupting phthalates DBP and DEHP — both banned for use in cosmetic products in European Union countries.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs are common chemical fire retardants found in everything from foam mattresses to computer parts. They have similar properties to the now outlawed PCBs and are known neurotoxins and hormone disrupters. The most dangerous forms are now banned in the EU, though they remain legal here in Canada.
Many leading brands of household laundry detergent contain trisodium nitrilotriacetate, another suspected carcinogen as well as an environmental pollutant.


con't

 

[RogerRabbit]

'Chemicals that endanger human life also go down the drain and impact the environment. A gruesome example involved a dead orca that washed up south of Vancouver in 2000 that was so contaminated with persistent chemicals that Ottawa considered shipping the carcass to the Swan Hills toxic waste facility for incineration.
Like orcas, we are perched at the top of the food chain and are becoming the unwitting receptacles of many of the chemicals designed to make our lives more convenient.
Ballooning cancer rates are simply not worth whiter clothes or fewer moths.
Cancer must be fought on many fronts. Research and treatment are undeniably important but so is environmental cancer prevention. It is therefore shocking that our government is not moving faster to ban known and suspected carcinogens, and requiring mandatory "right to know" labelling so that Canadians can better protect themselves and their families.
Anything less is quite simply putting the interests of the chemical industry ahead of human life.

Mitchell Anderson is a board member of the Labour Environmental Alliance Society, a Vancouver-based charity that educates the public on cancer prevention.'

I am looking at these plans and Critical Illness Ins. too...