snarescience.com

This is a cool idea that we should all give some consideration.

Dani Schweiger is a guard instructor who also works in a family business that is in the insurance industry. She was recently featured as a guest on the Marching Roundtable podcast to discuss insurance benefits for marching arts instructors. She put together an insurance plan specifically for marching arts instructors to get life insurance, disability coverage, and indemnity insurance for various health care costs. They are currently covering instructors in Indiana and Ohio. They want people in other states to contact them if they are interested, so that they can look into expanding coverage to there. Their web site is http://www.5678benefits.com and there is a link to the Marching Roundtable episode.

As a half-time certified teacher and half-time percussion instructor, I have no health insurance or disability. I have limited life insurance, dental, and optical coverage through my wife's employer. When we got married, we were going to add me to her health insurance. Then they told us it would cost us $600/month! This plan is more limited, but it is in the $70-100/month range, which is much more affordable for those of us who are trying to make a living off band stipends, private lesson money, etc.

I have not decided if I am going to purchase this yet, but I will definitely consider it and call them this week. I wanted you guys to be aware of it, because I am sure I am not the only instructor with these concerns. I also know that there are many high school and college students curious about the challenges of being a professional. The insurance and health care coverage issue is one of the biggest.

Okay, as always, I have more to say and I can't hold it in:

The primary needs for health-related insurance should be as follows: catastrophic coverage (cancer, heart attack, horrible accidents, etc.), disability (guaranteed pay if illness or injury prevent you from working), life insurance (coverage of expenses to your family if you die). Everything else is not that important if you manage your money well. For example, if you keep $2,000 in a savings account at all times, a $1,500 ER bill isn't going to ruin you. Just pay it, rebuild the savings, and move on. However, if you fall off the band staff scaffolding and shatter your ankle, you could be looking at $ tens of thousands between the ambulance, ER, X-rays, orthopedic work, drugs, check-ups, rehab, etc. You might not be able to go to work for weeks, even months. You would need serious health care coverage and disability to get through that (catastrophic coverage). Obviously, if you get killed in a car crash on your way home from work, your family could face a similar financial burden. I like that the plan I linked above addresses these issues in some way. However, I wonder if there are better options that address those big 3 better without all the extra bells and whistles that don't concern me. I am going to do more research and update in a couple days on what I find.

I got some quotes from UnitedHealthOne (uhone.com), which I found through GoldenRule.com. This is for plans closer to what I am looking for, catastrophic coverage without all the bells & whistles. The plan I like is a $10,000 deductable where 100% of costs above the deductable are covered. That's only $63.25/month. They have less extreme plans inbetween with various deductables and co-pays. It's nice to see that there are variety of options available to percussion instructors or other private contractors who need to buy insurance. However, it's hard to say what the market will look like if/when Obama's health care mandate kicks in.