Health Insurance For Writers

If you are a freelance writer, where do you get your health insurance? It's a challenging question and there are nearly 47 million Americans or 16 percent of the population without health insurance in 2005 (the latest government data on this question).

Many people have a spouse that works a "day job" and that is their method to get insurance. My family wasn't in that situation so we had to pay for our own individual policy.

For years I've looked at different writer's groups and in particular watching for the health insurance benefit. I never found it--until the American Society of Journalists and Authors launched a nationwide health insurance benefit.

For more than 10 years, I've been a member of the ASJA. It's different from most other writer's organizations. For the majority of them, if you are living and breathing and will pay their dues, then you can join the group. It's different with the ASJA. You have to qualify for membership. There are many people who qualify for membership yet they have never considered joining--but I believe this nationwide health insurance benefit will be a draw to many people.

If you read this entry in the Writing Life and decide to join the ASJA for their many benefits (including health insurance), please do me a favor a add my name to spot on the membership application where it asks for a "referring member." Why? Because I will get 10% off my next year's dues and it's something that I've never had happen in my years in ASJA--even though I'm certain I've brought people into the organization. You can be the first one.

I want to celebrate this great new benefit for writers: a group health insurance policy.