Greetings HT: Interesting thread on health insurance. On a related note... I don't recall seeing anyone having posted the following info, but if so, sorry for the double post: FYI, the Pioneer Valley CDC will be holding a free seminar called "Health Insurance Considerations for Small Business Owners" on October 28th. Registration is required and there are still seats available. To find out more, visit this link: http://www.valleycdc.com/training/index.html The "Register here" registration link is at the top of the page. Best, Kimo Lee PS: Hi Don Lesser: Great class you gave on Quickbooks last Tuesday! Thanks! See you Tues. AZURELINK :: "Simply Connected!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Web Site Design & Scalable, Managed Web Hosting Joomla! Content Management System Implementation eCommerce Development ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 409 Main St, Suite 114 Amherst, MA 01002 Telephone: (413) 306-4248 Fax: (413) 825-8344 For more information, please visit: www.azurelink.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Sep 17, 2009, at 2:48 PM, Jan Werner wrote: > ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's > area. > ** If you did, we all thank you. > > > That hasn't been true for many years in Massachusetts. > > Membership in a Chamber of Commerce or other affinity group does not > qualify for group insurance in Massachusetts, a sore point that came > up often when I was on the Government Relations Committee of the > Berkshire Chamber, and something that business groups have long been > trying to reverse, without success. > > There are insurance purchasing outfits that require you to be a > member of such a group to use their services (e.g., Northeast > Business Trust, from whom I used to get my insurance) but under the > current MA health insurance laws, they don't offer any advantage, > and, as I discovered in researching the matter, tend to offer less > value than you can get by purchasing directly from insurers like > BCBSMA or Tufts as an individual. > > That said, the insurers conduct a real shell game by offering a vast > number of plans using all kinds of different combinations of copays, > deductibles and other options. This makes it nearly impossible to > compare plans directly. I ended up building a spreadsheet model and > running what-if scenarios to make an informed choice, but I don't > think most people have the know-how (or time) to do that kind of > thing. > > As to the original question, a self-employed individual who files a > Schedule C and reports a profit can deduct up to the amount of that > profit minus 1/2 their SE tax on line 29 of their 1040, if he/she > does not qualify for coverage under someone else's plan. Your > spouse's insurance will also qualify if she/he is a co-owner of the > business. > > Also, if you are both owner/employees of the business, you can get > two individual plans, which is less expensive than a family plan if > you have no other dependents. > > Jan Werner > ____________ > > Edbride-PR wrote: >> ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the >> member's area. >> ** If you did, we all thank you. >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> That's how we qualify for group insurance: Chamber of Commerce. I'm >> not sure, there may be a minimun requirement of employee head >> count; if there is, it's 2, which is easy enough... >> Ed >> ----- Original Message ----- >> *From:* Don Lesser <mailto:dlesser at ptraining.com> >> *To:* 'Tom / Reelife Productions' <mailto:tomadams at gmail.com> ; >> 'Hidden-Tech Tech' <mailto:hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> >> *Sent:* Thursday, September 17, 2009 9:23 AM >> *Subject:* RE: [Hidden-tech] found the answer >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Too bad. Can your business buy insurance (from a Chamber of >> Commerce >> or some other group)? That way it is a business expense and comes >> off your taxes? I’m no tax expert, but I’d look into that route. >> The >> Noho chamber is about $300 per year, but there are other perks and >> you can compare the total cost of health care + Chamber to >> whatever >> else you are offered. >> Don Lesser >> Pioneer Training, Inc. >> 139 B Damon Road, Suite 2 >> Northampton, MA 01060 >> (413) 387-1040 / (413) 536-1030 >> (413) 586-0545 (fax) >> dlesser at ptraining.com >> www.ptraining.com >