medical insurance for authors

[guessingo]

This is a little off topic. Thanks to the person who pointed me to John Scalzi's blog. I really like it. I noticed that an author friend of his had to have emergency heart surgery and does not have medical insurance. So are you guys out in the cold when it comes to insurance and have to buy individual plans? Is there anyway you can get a plan through your publisher? Or the SFWA negotiates a group plan?

Getting insurance on your own is a problem. Companies do not  like to insure individuals and if you have anything wrong with you at all you end up in the HIPAA category (roughly $1,000/month, covers only emergencies and has a huge deductible).

I am asking in case I want to write some day....

[Eerongal]

Since they don't have a regular employer, and can switch publishing companies on a whim (after contracts are up, etc.), it likely works like a freelance contractor, that is, they buy their own. This is just a guess, though.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Yes. Authors have to get their own individual plans. People have been suggesting SFWA do something for years, but group plans are actually more expensive than individual plans (because no one can be rejected, for one reason).

[Eerongal]

Yes. Authors have to get their own individual plans. People have been suggesting SFWA do something for years, but group plans are actually more expensive than individual plans (because no one can be rejected, for one reason).

Honestly, I dont see anything every really happening in this regard getting done, mainly because it's such a shake up to how contracting (in any field) generally works.

[guessingo]

no one can be rejected for medical insurance now. you get put in the HIPAA category like I described above. Very expensive.