IC's and SE's without spouses or significant others (benefits question), please read ... sm
Posted By: sm on 2008-02-02
In Reply to:
I've scanned the archives and either I'm not searching correctly or there's no substantial info posted on this.
For those of you who've made the career choice that either IC or SE is a good fit for you and who don't have a spouse or significant other on whom you can 'piggyback' for benefits, what provisions have you made for your medical, dental, and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, and retirement funding? In addition, if you've found a way to provide for this, how and where did you go about finding coverage for yourself as an independent?
I'd really appreciate any help that you can give in this area as I have a once-in-a-lifetime SE opportunity available to me that I won't be able to take unless I can figure out a solution to this problem.
Thanks in advance.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Only if you have health benefits from your significant other.....
would it be beneficial. If you need the health insurance, than keep the employee status.
I do contract with hospitals; however, I have insurance through my husband, and it works out very well for me; however, if I had to pay the premiums for health insurance, I would be looking for an employee-based position.
I have been contracting with hospitals for 18 years now. The pay is sometimes higher on production, but not always. If you have a good thing going, try to keep it.
drinking spouses
ranting with drinking will only go into abuse usually & you do NOT want to go through this nor do your children deserve to...contact your local YWCA on their Women helping Women programs. My prayers for some peace for you
ALSO WORKS ON SPOUSES....*lol*..nm
x
That was with full benefits, which are the same benefits as an in-office employee for the QA staff..
However, I hear that their current QA staff are being asked to reach numbers that are out of sight and goals are basically impossible.
Who are you to judge? Most people gripe about their spouses,
Its called venting.  We're allowed to do that.
Maybe it would work with deadbeat ex-spouses who refuse
to pay child support.
The question was for those with spouses or so's. Take your pitty potty to another party.
significant other
My boyfriend or significant other drives a sweeper truck for an individual company and sweeps parking lots like Wal Mart, malls, etc.
Are there significant changes in 3rd BOS? sm
How many changes do I have to learn now? Does it ever end? I guess buying #2 and the CD was flushing money down the drain. I know - whatever the client wants - but they didn't agree with #2, so we shall see how #3 goes.
wow! do you know if it was a significant amount?
How often do you talk by phone with your significant other? (sm)
And one who is not living with you?
Is it every day, every other day?
I'm pretty annoyed with mine right now as he was supposed to call me LAST night, someone calls and hangs up and leaves no message. I only stepped out for a moment, excuse me! This to me is immature and as much as I hate to ignore people at Christmas time, I think he deserves it.
I have been annoyed with this dope for 2 days now. Honestly, I think if you care about somebody you should talk every day unless there is some kind of explanation. 
I bet there are a lot of MT's on this board living with significant others (sm)
Is one sin worse than another? Maybe we better take this to the religion board. You've got my dander up now.
I have noticed an significant increase
in the cost of living. I do not know whether to attribute this to the cost of gas rising or Hurricane Katrina and the gulf ports out of commission but items on the shelf seem about 15% higher in general than just 1-2 years ago save for paper products.
I do not know how a family can do it and not go into severe debt and I really do believe that is how many are making it, using their charge cards to pay day to day expenses.
She is single but has a significant other named “Mark.”
Are you really dealing with a weight issue that significant?
Cable is still faster, though there isn't a significant difference.
My DSL goes out frequently and for periods of time. When my cable went out it was only for about 15 minutes at most. I had cable through Time Warner and they suck big time, which is the only reason I don't still have cable. It will take a little time adjusting because you will notice a difference, but it isn't significant and you'll get used to it.
CT of head - No significant collecting system dilatation??
Is the radiologist going to sleep here or is there collecting system structures in the brain (such is vessels)?
Thanks in advance!
IC positions offer no benefits, employee positions off full benefits, so if you do not need
benefits, then IC would be best.
Racing fans - the Atlanta Motor Speedway had significant damage...sm
yesterday by the tropical depression Cindy. You can see photos of this through the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at:
http://lpe.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/0705/storm/14
In 12 years of MT'ing I've never re-read an entire chart. Edit/read as I type. nm
x
Yes, I read your post, and I just re-read it, and I've copied and pasted for you in case
you've forgotten your own words! Your post above is 100% different "flavor" to it, now all positive and cheery! Your first post was 100% doom and gloom every which way, including "raining on your parade", and "if you want to go forward"...God, sounds like she's talking about jumping into oncoming traffic! Here is your quote:
My first boss (the one who hired me as a new grad) gave me some words of wisdom that I haven't forgotten. She said that transcribing at home with small children NEVER works under any circumstance. Either the work will suffer or the parenting will suffer.
****
How can the word "NEVER" in caps be interpreted in any positive way? You took about 8 paragraphs to cover every aspect and completely dash this poor woman's dream. I'm not blind, I'm not talking about day care at all, I'm talking about the total negativity of your original post! You know exactly what I'm talking about, cause you added some sugar to your second version! And that's much nicer than the first!
Oh I've read that site and continue to read it...sm
I agree...much motivation there. I have tried to quit numerous times in the past and did successfully quit when I was pregnant for the first time many years ago but I have never managed to summon up the strength or resolve to stay quit. Thus the "need" for a financial investment in my efforts. It somehow makes it more motivational to know that I have $$$ invested in this effort over and above the $$$ saved on cigarettes.
Who had time to read?LOL I only get a chance to read This Old House once in a while. (nm)
x
I didn't read the other posts but just read this
My daughter got pregnant at 17, said she wanted an abortion but BF didn't. I have a wonderful 2-1/2 yo grand daughter that I don't think I could live without...and now, guess what? I don't. I have custody of her. She was dropped off on my door, I got court ordered temporary custody and final custody hearing in a month.
I'm single with no family support. I had just taken a new MT job one month before this happened and they have been wonderful during my adjusting to being a mom again and I hope I can resume a normal schedule by next week.
I'm passing no moral judgments or giving moral advice. The situation is what it is. My prayers are with everyone involved.
Definitely an eye-opening read. Having my teens read it, too. nm
s
Right Now, we do get benefits
but MQ is trying to change that, of course. They are trying to get our hospital to outsource everything to them, which would then mean i can work for MQ or leave. I hate MQ. I want to see them exposed for what they really are and I want to see everybody that have hurt, be compensated.
You can do that with benefits too, ya know.
:)
As long as you're happy, it pays your bills, and you can make ends meet at tax time, that's all that counts. :)
Is that with or without benefits
Do they have Editor positions as SE?
If you don't need benefits, look into
doing house cleaning for individuals on a weekly basis. Lots of under-the-table money to be made from what I used to see when I worked at a bank (and saw deposits of gals doing housekeeping). Weekly house cleaning is no longer limited to the well off professionals.
I was in QuickLube, or whatever it's called this week, and a 70-something lady was talking about her work as a home aide - light housekeeping and cooking and companionship - no medical stuff. She got her referrals through her church and was charging $10/hour.
Unfortunately, some of us need benefits.
Not even in the salad days did I make anywhere near that. In fact, most of the services I know don't charge that.
It's all about the benefits
Hospitals don't want to pay the benes. The hospital where I used to work was sold and the new owners threw us all out plus the service we used. My benefits alone costed the hospital roughly $5000 per year x that by 15 transcriptionists. Plus they provided everything for us, equip, desk, computer, etc.
Apparently they contracted a service for X amount of dollars per month/year to do it for them. No messing around with line counts and they always know what it will cost them.
Can you name some benefits for
the American MT to become certified? Please tell me how AAMT has changed the average MT's job security, satisfaction, etc. All I see is that they have given up on us and moved overseas to start programs and gain overseas members.
well, there are some benefits to having your own
was asking you to go away. A blog serves a similar purpose and in fact you may find a wider range of readers, interactions and help than what you may get on this web site. Yes, I have seen others here say they would start their own blog and have seen a couple of them, so it wasn't an only you thing (at least I didn't see it that way).
Benefits can add up to $10,000 though. (nt)
Tax benefits
I guess I just like knowing I own my own business and I made it what it is today. I like getting out and delivering. Talking to the people in the office making personal contact. Working as much as I want. I also like the write offs and paying less than $1,000 taxes per year. To each their own. To me this is the answer. Most on this board all they do is say that there is no way to make 50K a year and I simply gave an example of how you can do it. I am not knocking you, you seem to have done it I just like doing it "my way" as Frank Sinatra would say. Best of luck to you.
If you do not need benefits then you would
there is more leg work involved especially when first landing an account. The other problem is that even when you have a contract with them they can break it any time for someone who charges less. So you must remain humble with your pricing. When you have your own accounts, you have cut out the middle man, BUT, you must chase down your money. In my experience, the Transcriptionist must get paid LAST because most weeks, I have to ask nicely or do without. Have a safety net, an account to borrow from until you get paid because a lot of the time they pull OOPS, forgot your write your check, or OOPS doc needs to sign it or you just wonder when you'll get it. Just SOME things to consider, but good luck on whatever you decide. 
IC - No benefits with this doc
I was total IC before. I dropped my other accounts and went the employee route for the bennies and so taxes are taken out. Now I get days and holidays off, too. That's a first. Worked 9 years 7/7, 12-14 hours a day, 3 days off a year for family.
What no one seems to realize that in my area, money is tight and so I can't charge the same as someone in a city or heavily populated area can charge. Jobs just aren't here.
Benefits
They cannot give you benefits if you are an IC. If they did they would have to turn you into employees. This is not just my opinion they are IRS rules.
My pay is okay - just no more benefits
It has become a matter of taking a higher cpl w/o benefits or lower cpl with benefits in this industry...as well as those employers who want (example) 7 years of experience for 5-6 cpl. Anyone accepting that should be ashamed to call themselves an MT. I make only slightly less than I did 5 years ago. Now I make 11 cpl on a 65 line count versus 11-12 cpl on a gross line - the difference though, is that I had paid benefits then which I don't have now. The other difference is that when I could work in DOS and create all reports into one file to send at the end of the day, I could routinely produced over 350 lph (and never, ever work more than 6 hours a day, 5 days a week!). Now that I have to work on a platform that requires individual reports being submitted, I've really taken a hit in how many lph I can produce. I still work less than 40 hr/wk, though.
I truly believe in working smarter than harder. If a company offers a platform or dictators that prevent me from making a minimum of 200 lph or more, then I don't work for them. If I can't use my abbreviations that I've built over the past 10 years, then I won't work for that company. If I can't have benefits paid by the company AND the cpl I want, then yes, I will be an independent contractor and take all the tax benefits I can. Last year, I only paid $268 in federal taxes for the entire year.
I have to work around my child as well (I am single) and I am fortunate that my training days are well behind me. I still have a good life and good income, but I am choosy about the company I will work for. When I am older and things change significantly that I make less than $40k/yr, then I will go back into coding and have a job with good pay and benefits. I can't see staying in a profession if it doesn't benefit me the way I need it to.
About benefits
After I wrote my last post I was just thinking about the benefits. I was with Keystrokes for a while and you can be an employee with them and still get the flexibility of 24 hour TAT and therefore you can get the benefits. So it's not impossible to get benefits and flexibility. I know the Keystrokes ortho accounts offer 24 hour TAT, not sure if it's all of the ortho accounts, but I know some of them do. I'm not sure if they have other specialties that have the 24 hour TAT. Good luck.
Benefits
The only "benefits" an IC gets is being able to make their own schedule. We do not get any medical, dental, retirement. We furnish our own equipment, do our own taxes, and do not get paid vacation or holidays.
benefits?
I know people who would change bedpans, just to get a hospital job because of the great benefits package. No judgement on types of jobs some of us would or wouldn't actually consider doing, but bottom line for some people is a steady paycheck and health insurance.
benefits
They do have good benefits and I did look into the kitchen job a bit more. I have not called HR yet. I guess my main point is I am surprised that the HR person did not follow through and let me know there is not an MT job. She did not indicate that when I met with her. I am also surprised that the application went to another department but if that is the way it is done, ok, fine. I do not feel I am a prima dona. I would have understood them passing the application on to perhaps the business office or something else in the medical record department. The job asked for an experienced MT so I was just responding to that particular job.
No Benefits
I'm an independent contractor and so I don't receive any benefits. The reason I stay as an IC is because it allowed me to obtain one degree, and now I'm going back to obtain my nursing degree, and so I like the fact that as an IC, I can set my own hours and that kind of thing...so unfortunately, the penalty for that is not having insurance, paid time off, etc., but I hope it will all be worth it in the end when I'm a nurse! And, I don't mind answering any questions at all...so feel free to ask.
Have a good day!
CMT benefits
Company I work for pays 1 cent per line more for CMT, also provides gift certificates for several webinars a year so does not cost me much.
Benefits
Just found out benefit premiums are going up over $100 more a month. I am hardly getting by as is, let alone when benefits go up. I have to carry the insurance for my entire family (husband is self employed). If someone works for a company that offers good coverage (deductible $1000 or less and copays $30 or less) and cheap premiums (i.e. less than $500/mo for family coverage), could you please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Benefits (sm)
115V AC
3-prong grounded plugs
dust cover provided
I have benefits.
I am an employee though, so make less per line than an IC, and don't get to choose my schedule. Worth it to get benefits though. You just have to find a company willing to hire you as an employee.
do we get benefits?
What's a benefit????
No more benefits, either
I didn't either think about benefits when I posted. I got two weeks paid vacation a year plus paid health insurance and matching taxes deducted through paycheck. Now as an IC, I don't get any of those things. The one thing I have now that I did not have even in 2002 was cable internet, but didn't really need it as much then.
Have you added in the other benefits
The company has great benefits that can add up to several thousand a year. Paid downtime. Paid holidays. Vacation/PTO starting the first year. No equipment rental fee. Big discount on word books. Rental library for medical education. Reimbursement for continuing education. Decent insurance. Might make a difference.
|
