This sounds like it would be more appropriate in fulltimefurs to me.

I've always gotten individual insurance through Anthem when I've not had a job that paid benefits. It can be harsh, depending on your deductible.

I'm from the UK, but I would strongly advise you to over estimate all of your expenses, add more then take a few steps back and take a look at your incomings before you open a studio. It's a LOT more costly than you think, most artists do one or more jobs on top for this reason - I do part time work, run a small business and am an illustrator but still live at home with my folks!

I have to agree with findmealone that officially opening up a full studio may not be the wisest choice. Actually, to clarify: what do you mean by studio? A brick and mortar location? A numbered or named company? Or just a website?

If it's anything that's going to cost more than a few bucks, I think you need to plan our what your income as an artist has been so far. What's the most you've made a month doing commissions or sales? And what's the least? These are questions you need to ask yourself before jumping in headfirst.

You might do some looking around and see if you can find a local collective of small business owners in your area that have a health insurance carrier that they all use.

I have a friend who is a metal smith who is also an epileptic and has been his entire life. He found a local business group that he joined and gets his health insurance through them which costs him a lot less than if he had to go out on his own and be self insured.

This is a very hard thing to do. If possible I'd recommend a secondary, stable income source such as a part time job. Other than that I wish you the best! I've never had less free time than now that I am self-employed. ;)

That said I wish I had a good answer re: health insurance. I regret that I found every option available to me in my home state to be so prohibitively expensive that the cost per month would have been twice my gross monthly income (IF I was having a good month! Sales fluctuate wildly). Due to this I was uninsured for quite a while and basically just prayed that I didn't get sick or injured. Sadly but quite frankly right now and in the past there is a reason why so many millions of Americans are uninsured. There are often no affordable options if you don't have a 'normal' job with benefits.

That said-- please don't take this as a "don't try" type of message. DO try! There may be options available to you that I didn't have, and while it is not in effect yet we have the hopes of healthcare reform. There may be someone that can help you at your local department of labor as they may have information on programs designed to help people like you get healthcare coverage.

Here are some links that are great food for thought, though they don't have anything to do with health insurance:
http://gapingvoid.com/books/
http://gapingvoid.com/2004/03/25/the-sex-cash-theory/
http://www.allfreelancework.com/articlef1017rates.php


Best wishes!

I've considered joining the graphic artists guild simply for the group health benefits. I'd take a gander at their website for more info:

http://www.graphicartistsguild.org/join/

There's a company called Free For All (http://www.freeforallinc.com/) that will provide you free prescription drug coverage. If you just print out their card, you're covered. They basically negotiate down the non-insured prices to insurance levels and tack $5 onto the cost as profit. Pretty decent deal if you want to pay less for health coverage overall.

I pay a little over $200 a month for bare bones medical. It's not great, and it doesn't cover prescriptions, but they took me despite some pre-existing conditions (which is why they don't cover prescriptions.) I wound up calling an insurance broker--basically somebody who could plug in fifty different insurances and say "Okay, I can get it for you from X for the least amount."

Had it for a few years, haven't had to seriously test it--just basic check-ups and whatnot--and so far so good.

If you're thinking of going to art full-time, my advice from somebody who's done it--twice!--is this is a terrible economy to do it in. That doesn't mean that you can't make it work--if you can do it now, you can do it anywhere!--but I'd wait until you're actively losing money by going to a day job. At the very least, take a couple of months and make sure that each and every month, your income from art is sufficient to pay all the bills, preferably with some left over, before you ditch a regular job.

Don't assume that just because you can focus on it full-time, you will start making more money at it automatically--that only works if you're currently turning down commissions because you don't have time. Selling art for a living requires a whole lot of other people to make it work, and sadly, quitting your day job does not make more buyers appear.

If you're not selling art via website yet, then definitely do that before you decide to go full-time--that's really the only way to gauge demand and see whether you can make a go of it full-time yet.

This is coming from a person who hasnt been to the doctor since 1992...

personally? mexico. mexico mexico mexico. (unless you live too far, then.. canada!)

it was going to cost me $2000 to fix one of my molars, went down to mexico and it was only $65. and they did a better job.

then again, with everything else I just self-medicate.

speaking of art full-time... I'm doing it right now. but you WILL have instances where a $1000 commission will either back out or want a full-refund. you HAVE to think about this before you go into it. Currently I'm thinking about moving into an artist commune. it's $400 a month including utilities and a store to sell your stuff in. I would advise to look for a good artist commune.