^^Hirap kasi sa ating mga self-employed, sis, hindi sulit ang ibabayad natin for HMOs. Premiums are too high for such small coverage, and if you do end up using it, chances are your premiums next year will dramatically increase. The risk for individual accounts like ours is not spread out like in group accounts.
There are inexpensive annually renewable HMOs (like Medicard), but personally, I find the 50-60k coverage they offer to be low. Yung ibabayad ko sa kanila na 20-30k/year for my family, ipunin ko lang for 2 years, yun na din yung coverage. Hindi pa kami limited sa accredited network nila.
Instead of getting health insurance that covers everything, I think it's more cost-efficient for self-employed individuals to bear some of the expenses (like consultations, checkups, and dental work), then get coverage for potentially catastrophic events (emergency cases and hospitalization). The premiums for this type of insurance are lower and the coverage is bigger, especially at times when you need it the most. Some examples are Blue Cross' Select Standard plan (reimbursement type) and PhilCare's IPER Care plan (swipe/no-cash-out type).
It's also imperative for the self-employed to have an emergency fund with at least 3-6 months worth of expenses in place. If you have this, your health insurance choices expand to include hospital income plans. Check out Guevent Insurance's F360 Protect product -- it pays 3,000 each day you are hospitalized and even covers up to 5 family members for a premium of only P6,500/year.
Kung tipid mode talaga, and if the network is accessible/convenient to you, you can also get those emergency-only health cards offered Maxicare, Medicard, Philcare, and PNB. Check out Maxicare's EReady, Medicard's RxEr, Philcare's Health Buddy cards, and PNB's Health Ka Pinoy. Small and limited coverage, but cheap.
