What is different about trade work
An office worker with a sprained ankle keeps working. A plumber with the same injury does not. That is the reason disability and accident coverage sit next to health insurance in most contractor conversations: the income stops before the bills do.
The second difference is growth. A solo operator becomes a crew of three, then six, then twelve, and the right way to handle health coverage changes at each step. Dagan stays with the business through those changes.
What Dagan checks with you
- Individual or family health plans that include your doctors and prescriptions, including Marketplace plans where they fit.
- Accident and ICU coverage that pays cash benefits directly to you after a covered hospital stay, so the truck payment and rent are covered while you heal.
- Disability insurance with a waiting period that matches your reserves and a benefit that reflects what you actually earn.
- When a crew reaches a size where a micro-group or small-group health plan starts to make sense, and how that compares with everyone staying on individual plans.
CHA Lifeguard handles insurance that covers people: health, life, supplemental, dental and vision, disability and group benefits. General liability, tools, vehicles and workers' compensation are a different kind of insurance and are not covered here.
When the crew grows
Offering health benefits is one of the ways a small contractor keeps good people from leaving for a bigger outfit. Dagan compares what a group plan would cost against individual coverage for each employee, and explains what changes at 6 employees and again at 50. See group health insurance for small businesses.
Coverage that usually comes up
- Health insurance: Individual and family plans around your providers.
- Cancer, heart and accident insurance: Cash benefits paid to you after a covered accident or ICU stay.
- Disability insurance: Income protection for physical work.
- Group health insurance: For crews that are ready to offer benefits.
Plan availability, benefits and costs vary by carrier, county and plan year.