Canadian Freelancers and Entrepreneurs Looking for Health and Dental Insurance? You’ve got Options!

Posted on by david

Aside from a regular paycheque, one of the scariest things about saying goodbye to the corporate world is insurance, which comes apparent when you have to go to the doctor or dentist.

If you’re a Canadian citizen, you have access to a provincial health plan. But that doesn’t cover everything. Prescription drugs, dental care, vision, physiotherapy, travel medical, hearing aids, massage therapy, and homecare are typically up to you.

The Problem with Insuring Individuals

So, if you go to an insurance company as an individual, you might be shocked at how expensive it is compared to what was taken off your paycheque.

There’s actually some logic to this.

Basically, companies are able to get better insurance rates than smaller companies or individuals because the pool of risk is larger. There are lots of people who make few claims, offsetting the claims of other people.

There’s also a principle of “moral hazard” in which one party gets involved in a risky event knowing that it is protected against the risk and the other party will incur the cost. In the case of insurance, an individual has more knowledge of what value they will get out of insurance than the insurance company, so they might sign up for insurance knowing they will make more claims that the insurance company expects. Insuring a wider group of people protects the insurance company from moral hazard because there’s less risk that many people will make lots of claims.

It’s for these reasons that large organizations typically have lower rates and better insurance options, but there are some innovative options:

Alumni Insurance

If you graduated from a Canadian University or College, chances are there’s an alumni insurance program for you. Manulife actually delivers a lot of Alumni Health & Dental Insurance programs.

Insurance for Coworking Space Members

COHIP (a take on Ontario’s health care plan, OHIP) is the Coworking Health Insurance Plan, which is available to all independent workers in Canada through Blue Cross. You can join COHIP as an individual, or through a COHIP member organization.

The plan is designed for freelancers, creatives, start ups, small businesses, collectives and independent workers in any industry.

Insurance Provides Stability for an Unpredictable Lifestyle

We all want to minimize our monthly costs, but an unexpected dental visit or a costly medication could quickly tank your monthly budget, so you have to decide for yourself whether an additional fee per month for insurance is worth it. Before committing to anything, you also need to carefully look at the price and details of plans such as deductibles because insurance providers are famous for fineprint that could disqualify you for reimbursement.

The entrepreneurial lifestyle can be unpredictable, but if you’re in it for the long-term and especially if you’re caring for other people, insurance can help provide some stability when facing the unexpected.

Are Digital Nomads Outstaying their Welcome?

Posted on by david

You might not be familiar with Canggu, but this small village in Bali is well known to an international class of coworkers according to its number-one ranking on Nomad List. But could those living in this piece of coworking paradise leave a more positive impact on their host country?

Harry Guinness, himself a digital nomad, recently wrote about the influx of Westerners flooding the beachside village with their laptops, working for foreign clients while enjoying the spectacular nature and low cost of living. 

While Indonesia offers a “KITAS” permit for foreigners working there, many digital nomads flout these local regulations by working on tourist visas instead. They’d rather declare taxes in their home country and use loopholes to extend their stay.

Digital nomads, of course, contribute to the economy through their coworking space memberships, rent payments, and leisure spending, but by dodging taxes they do not fully contribute to the country moving itself out of poverty. Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world, and per capita earnings is just 4,330.00 USD.

While digital nomads have the freedom to work where they want and work towards a dream life, it begs the question of what responsibilities these people have towards their host country which makes it possible. 

Read more about Mr. Guinness’ journey through the digital nomad mecca on his Medium blog post.

Signing a Coworking Contract? Beware Hidden Exit Fees!

Posted on by david

Part of the popularity of coworking stems are the short contract terms. Some
coworking spaces, however, are eager for you to sign up, then make leaving much harder.

Netherlands-based Regus created the coworking brand Spaces in part to distance itself from its stodgy roots as a purveyor of international business centres. However, behind that youthful branding for many members have been displeased to discover age-old practices of stuffing unexpected fees into contracts such as fees for coffee service, mail and shared kitchen use.

Fed up members have quit, only to find out they don’t get their initial deposit (or “Retainer”) back and they have to pay exit fees on top of that.

Coworking spaces, like any business, need to spell things out in contracts. But these contracts should not be so long and difficult to interpret that they mislead customers. If you don’t feel don’t feel confident that you understand your payments and obligations, find another space with more straight-forward terms.

This way, you hopefully won’t receive the added frustration of a hefty bill when you decide to part ways.