Just received the email below about personal health insurance.  I've also included my response, but any other advice would be most welcome:

Subject: B&B owners question

Good afternoon. My husband and I are considering purchasing part of a B&B.

We have two small boys and our concern is personal health care.

What do most B&B owners do for health insurance?

Thanks,

Diana

Reply:

It’s a big problem, with no easy answers.  The national innkeepers association has been grappling with this issue since their founding without success, to my knowledge it’s founding.  Contact them at info@paii.org, and visit their website at www.paii.org.

 

In addition, we recommend contacting the state/local B&B associations of the areas you’re considering for their recommendations. Check our list here:

http://bedandbreakfast.com/innkeepers/BnBAssociations.aspx

 

Sometimes a local chamber of commerce can recommend policies for independent small business owners.

 

In many cases, B&B owners will keep one “day” job to provide insurance coverage for the family.

 

There’s something else you need to consider – raising a family in a B&B is very challenging – some innkeepers do it superbly, others would rather walk over hot coals. Ask the innkeepers of family-friendly inns how they do it.

 

You’ll find lots of information on innkeeping here, http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/innkeepers/resourceLibrary.aspx, although I don’t think your specific concerns are addressed.

 

Good luck!

 

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Sandy Soule
BedandBreakfast.com
Sandy@BedandBreakfast.com

Health Insurance...

You gotta have it..A good place to start is your local chamber of commerce--ours has a decent group policy that any member can join.  Here in Michigan, Blue Cross Blue Shield is our choice for a more reasonably priced health insurance.  We pay less than $500 a month for a 2 person policy that has a high deductible, does not cover office visits, and has no prescription drug coverage. 

We have also purchased several very reasonably priced AFLAC insurance policies.  One covers accidents, as we have always felt that if anything serious happens to us, it will be due to an accident.  It is not a full health policy, but is very economical and only pays us when we visit a physician because of an accidental injury (e.g. sprained ankle, back strain, lacerations, etc.).  We also have an AFLAC cancer policy.  It pays us to get a cancer screening every year and will help if the big C should enter our lives.

Until recently, we have been reasonably healthy.

In January, my wife was diagnosed with *** cancer.  She is a contract employee and has no sick days or disability benefits.  When we lost her income, it hurt pretty badly.  Our BC/BS covers a lot of her treatments, but not the office calls or the prescription drugs--one of this week's pills are over $80 EACH.  Thank goodness she only takes 3 every 3rd week--that is the most expensive of 8-10 drugs she is prescribed each month.  Another drug that is administered in the hospital costs over $6,000 a shot--that one is covered as a treatment, not a prescription.  We've taken 5 of those shots already--We'd really be hurting if that payment had to come out of our pocket due to lack of adequate health insurance.

Our AFLAC cancer policy helped us stay afloat while we struggled with figuring out how to make ends meet for the long term.  It also helps out to a lesser extent for her long term treatment--but it does help.

The bottom line is that you need some sort of health insurance.  Find the best deal for the best coverage you can afford.  To hope that "it won't happen to me" could be a very financially dangerous decision, if something does happen to you.

Good luck.

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Life is good in Jonesville.

MunroHouse,

I'm sorry to hear about your wife:(  My best advice is to find a good agent.  I've mentioned before that I'm a former small business owner, though not in the B&B industry.  I don't even want to get started on my personal feelings on the industry...you will probably not have the number of employees to qualify for a group plan.  I went from being pretty much scammed on a "good deal" from MegaLife that paid for just about exactly nothing to signing onto an excellent BCBS PPO that covered most with a very low deductible for myself and several employees.  Salesmen are salesmen.  Beware the pitch and look at the numbers.  I'm not big on doctors and didn't care to look for much than a low monthly payment basic plan.  That was a mistake.  Dig deeper and you will get something better.