If you're self-employed, you can enroll through the Marketplace and may get extra savings on your coverage. Marketplace coverage means that you will have guaranteed coverage of 10 essential health benefits with predetermined cost sharing.
Completing a Marketplace application will determine if you qualify for financial savings such as premium tax credits or extra savings on out-of-pocket costs. If you meet income and other criteria, the Marketplace will tell you if you might qualify for the Oregon Health Plan, Oregon's Medicaid program. Either way, you will find great coverage to help keep you healthy so you can focus on what matters most – your business.
Some tips to remember:
- The Marketplace will ask you to estimate your net income for the current year. This can be hard to do when you're self-employed. The Marketplace recommends doing your best to accurately estimate your income, based on past experience and realistic expectations.
- If it looks like your initial estimate was off as the year progresses, you should log in and report an income change. The Marketplace will recalculate your financial savings to make sure you're getting as close to accurate amounts as possible. If you end up making more money and you don't report a change, you may have to pay back some of the assistance you received throughout the year.
- When reporting self-employment income, you must report net income. This is your income minus expenses, sometimes also referred to as your profit. Net income for self-employment is reported on Schedule C of your federal tax return.
You may be asked to verify your income by submitting documents. If so, it is best to upload a ledger that shows a detailed record of your self-employment income and expenses.
A few other tips:
- Make sure to report any other income in your household, even from people who aren't applying for coverage.
- When reporting income, remember that you're estimating what you will profit this year, not last year. It's hard to do, but try to be as accurate as possible. Remember, you can always go in and update it throughout the year.
- If you're self-employed, but your spouse has coverage through their job, you may still qualify for savings through the Marketplace if your spouse's employer does not offer coverage to spouses and dependents of employees. If you have questions, it's best to ask the employer for information about its coverage using the Employer Coverage Tool.
Not sure where to start? We recommend window shopping to find out what coverage and savings you can get and then making an appointment with an expert for free, local help.