Independent Contractors

• Independents are asked to secure their own insurance plans for duration of their contracts
• Through IC group plans arranged by employers better terms and administration can be had
• ICs remember well employers who arrange complex protections for them and their families

International Medical Insurance and HealthCare Plan companies offer plans to insure independent contractors (ICs) of companies or individual contractors who simply work on their own. Industries with a large number of ICs that come to mind are construction, oilfield drilling & exploration, telecom, software development, facilities management and others obtain contracts for work scheduled over specific lengths of time. Firms hire people for specific jobs and when the project is finished, release the ICs from their temporary payroll. ICs are usually paid on a packaged daily rate basis inclusive of all benefits. Besides being on this “no work no pay” system, ICs are often required to secure their own personal insurance plans to cover HealthCare, Life, Accident and Income Protection.

Many employers are shifting certain categories of workers from regular to contractual. This is to contain overhead costs during economic downturns. Paying a packaged rate to an IC can have some problems. Enrolling ICs into an existing regular staff group plan is often prohibited by the Plan Company. ICs independently purchasing plans find premiums are much higher than what is charged a person within a group. Terms and conditions are usually less favorable plus locating the right plan can be very difficult. Consequently actual purchase may be deferred or not made at all. If a plan is purchases by an IC renewals often get lost or forgotten and claims hassles are commonplace.

An employer can arrange a separate Independent Contractor group plan. It is usually discounted in price and can have similar terms as a regular group plan. Easy procedures are set up to accommodate enrollment, renewal and client record-keeping on a permanent basis. Conversion privilege to a private plan is available when IC leaves the group thus maintains continuity of the coverage. More employers are setting up separate IC group plans as a value-added benefit to them. This is because it has become more competitive to hire such ICs, especially those respected by current and previous employers.