1099 Contractor and healthcare?

[Slateman]

Anyone want to fill me in on how this works?  My current company is intimating that if I don't take PTO to cover hours that they don't have work for, I will be let go. When I run out of PTO, I'm assuming that they will ask me to take leave without pay.

The original reason I was looking in to this was as an additional source of income. Ultimately I decided against it as it could be a conflict of interest. I'm willing to re-visit this stance if they are going to require me to take leave without pay. The worse case scenario is that I get fired from my "full time" job and have to be a full time 1099 contractor. Thus, the health insurance questions.

[dracnal]

In a quick read of things, I'm pretty sure that the best thing you could do would be start searching the marketplace for your exchange and start pricing plans.  It would absolutely be on you to provide health and disability insurance for yourself or pay a penalty at tax time.  That would at least give you a frame of reference for how much the health care side of things will run.  With that said, I don't have a clue how things like liability would work (in case you harmed someone while performing duties for your company, for example) and I suspect there's got to be someone who knows a lot more about that side of things.

[imref]

In a quick read of things, I'm pretty sure that the best thing you could do would be start searching the marketplace for your exchange and start pricing plans.  It would absolutely be on you to provide health and disability insurance for yourself or pay a penalty at tax time.  That would at least give you a frame of reference for how much the health care side of things will run.  With that said, I don't have a clue how things like liability would work (in case you harmed someone while performing duties for your company, for example) and I suspect there's got to be someone who knows a lot more about that side of things.

pretty much everyone should have a personal umbrella liability policy at least equal to their net-worth. They are very cheap, I think i'm paying something like $150 a year for mine.

WRT to health insurance, I agree with Drac, as much as it will pain you to use Obamacare, head over to healthcare.gov and start looking at what's available in your state.  FWIW, the plans on that site are actually better and cheaper than what i get from my company (a small business).  Pay special attention to whether or not the plans include dental and vision.

You'll also want to think about short-term and long-term disability insurance.  Best bet for those are through trade associations in your field if you can find one.

[tomterp]

And since you would be carrying the cost of insurance at your own expense, your billing rates if an independent contractor should appropriately reflect this. 

[Kevrock]

Be sure to research for a formula for your hourly rates. You probably want to take your salary or desired salary, calculate out the hourly rate, and then double it at least. You'll be covering your own insurance, travel, equipment, and taxes are harsher.

This isn't a scientific post and it's been a while since I've done this, so put your work in. But your hourly rate as a 1099/consultant should be way higher than just dividing your salary.

[Kevrock]

And as for Healthcare, I went through the site a little bit a couple months ago and it's actually quite intuitive. Just go to the site and start poking through.

[mitlen]

And since you would be carrying the cost of insurance at your own expense, your billing rates if an independent contractor should appropriately reflect this. 

i. e.    Don't pick up the soap.

[tomterp]

Be sure to research for a formula for your hourly rates. You probably want to take your salary or desired salary, calculate out the hourly rate, and then double it at least. You'll be covering your own insurance, travel, equipment, and taxes are harsher.

This isn't a scientific post and it's been a while since I've done this, so put your work in. But your hourly rate as a 1099/consultant should be way higher than just dividing your salary.

Double seems a nice starting point.  THey are probably charging you out at around triple but that's to cover corporate overhead.  If you're a contractor they shed benefits but still have to cover their overhead, but there's room in the middle to meet.

[HalfSmokes]

Be sure to research for a formula for your hourly rates. You probably want to take your salary or desired salary, calculate out the hourly rate, and then double it at least. You'll be covering your own insurance, travel, equipment, and taxes are harsher.

This isn't a scientific post and it's been a while since I've done this, so put your work in. But your hourly rate as a 1099/consultant should be way higher than just dividing your salary.

don't forget to account for downtime - if you only have 60 hours of work a week, hitting your old hourly rate after expenses will still leave you short