by Hope
Ashley’s post on the opening of the 2025 Open Enrollment season reminded me that I planned to take a look at healthcare options when it opened up. I guess it’s time.
I’ve got to be honest, I’ve worked through the Healthcare.gov site a couple of times and found nothing helpful. First, the options for coverage it presents me are from unknown entities for the most part. And second, when I spot check them via their websites, finding providers anywhere near me is impossible. So what’s the point?
Secondly, I do not understand the whole, this is what it costs, this is what it will cost you (based on income, I believe) and then there’s a whole tax related cost section. Can someone please explain it to me like I’m 5? Because I do not understand.
With Variable Income
Since my income as a contractor fluctuates significantly from month to month, let alone year to year, I am always hesitant to take something at my “low income” point for fear of the repercussions when my income increases and that affect. And then vice versa, take something as a high income season, and then my income drops and I’m stuck with an obligation I can’t meet.
A couple of months ago, I reached out to a Health insurance brokerage, for lack of a better term, and they did the same thing I do…go to the government healthcare site and read me the options. Maybe I should try them again. But I’d feel more comfortable going in with a better understanding of the financial and tax repercussions based on being self-employed with variable income.
Any experts in this are in the BAD community that could explain it to me like I’m 5?
My dad suggested that the state of Georgia instituted some other healthcare measures. (He still gets his home town paper so he’s always informing me of things I don’t know.) I did a quick Google search at the time but couldn’t find anything.
Anyone know anything specific about a recent Georgia initiative?
Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.
But life has a way of rewriting your plans.
A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.
Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.
Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.
She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.
