Dear Dave,

My husband and I are self-employed, and we currently pay almost $1,000 a month for health insurance. I’ve heard you talk about the potential for rates to increase as much as 40 to 60 percent next year. Are there other options, such as just saving the money in case of medical emergencies?

Anna

Dear Anna,

You don’t want to go completely without insurance, because you’ll get penalized by the government. Remember, when it comes to health insurance, the problem usually isn’t a kidney stone or a trip to the emergency room for a few stitches. The problem is a cancer diagnosis, which ends up costing $500,000 or more.

You might want to check into an HSA (Health Savings Account) type of plan within the exchanges. Another thing you could look at is one of the medical sharing programs through a Christian organization such as Christian Healthcare Ministries.

But a higher deductible, HSA-type plan might help keep your premiums down. It’s sad, but this is what Obamacare has done to independent people like you and me who are self-employed. It’s destroying small group plans, and I guess that was their intent. I suppose they wanted to put those companies out of business, so the government could take it over.

— Dave