One of the most well known sayings is, “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything”
Before you go on reading the rest of this article, think about that for a moment. Do you believe it?
During my 35 year+ Trucking career, I’ve watched ( and include myself) drivers place their health at the bottom of the priority list. The reasons were “time off” and “expense of policy”
1) Not taking the time to go to the doctor for fear that their time off will reduce their paycheck. As we all know, when the wheels aren’t turning, there is no money!
2) Not taking out a health insurance policy because it is too expensive. Although many company drivers are offered group health insurance, so many owner operators and independent contractors go without.
The reason again, “It’s too expensive”
The result? Many times drivers pay for this decision either by an eventual life threatening illness, their career, or even death, as many drivers are found in their truck deceased from not taking care of an illness, many times because not even aware that it existed or just “couldn’t afford to see a doctor”
In this article, it is our goal to show that the majority of owner operators CAN AFFORD Health Insurance.
Update: On November 5th, Trey Walker of PayPlans and Benefits was our special guest and explained how
Owner Operators CAN afford Private Health Insurance -Including low deductibles
Summary for Truck Driver Health:
As everyone knows, we have put driver health as one of our priorities on the AskTheTrucker “Live” internet radio show. Every other Thursday night we offer a health show to educate and encourage those within the trucking industry.
Saturday shows remain dedicated to other trucking topics.
As part of our research regarding driver health, we discovered just how many truckers are going without health insurance.
The trucking industry itself is making a huge turn for the better also.
Drivers, Carriers, Driver organizations such as the Trucking Solutions Group. Trucking Shows such as GATS, and now even the government is taking the initiative to find ways to improve ones’ health.
Drivers are joining social media groups to learn more, Carriers are offering health incentives, and recently the FMCSA posted a health related announcement on their website in relation to the issue of health and wellness of drivers of commercial motor vehicles and the establishment of a driver wellness initiative.
You can read my Comment to the FMCSA here.
However, even with all these advances, drivers are still reluctant to purchase health insurance. The reason?
“I would purchase health insurance if it didn’t cost so much”
One of the most frustrating things I’ve heard, are owner operators who have tried to enroll for health care, but are then told that they are not qualified to receive the reduced payment rate allowed by law. In other words, they are told that “they make too much money”. Unfortunately, they were told wrong,….they did qualify!
After researching this further, we found out that MANY of those who are supposed to be assisting with O/O health care enrollment, have little knowledge about how to calculate the finances ( Adjusted Gross Income) and business model of a small trucking company, including a trucking company of one truck. #FAIL
Today I’d like everyone who is going without Health Insurance because they think “it’s too expensive” or that “they can’t afford it”, to please contact Pay Plans and Benefits (PP&B) and find out for yourself, even if you have been told before that you do not qualify for a reduced premium rate. PP&B understands the trucking industry and how to correctly calculate the allowed reduced rates for your private health insurance plans!
PP&B has specialized knowledge and assistance for getting independent contractors high quality private health insurance plans for greatly reduced prices. As a matter of fact, enrollees are saving an average of 66% off of regular plan cost, many saving even more than that.
Below is an info-graphic which explains the 5 things you should know about Affordable Health Insurance.
Click on the info-graphic and it will tale you to the website for more info.
Or call 1-800-459-0962
You and your family CAN AFFORD Health Insurance.
© 2015, Allen Smith. All rights reserved.