Best Health Insurance for Gig Workers: Uber, DoorDash, and Instacart Drivers
Platform work rarely comes with benefits, and the partnerships that exist are thinner than they sound.
If you drive or deliver for a platform, you are a 1099 contractor and your health coverage is entirely your own problem. The partnerships some platforms advertise are usually referrals to a marketplace navigator rather than a benefit.
What the platform partnerships actually are
Most connect you to a broker who helps you enroll in an ACA marketplace plan. That help is genuinely useful and free, but the plans are the same ones you would find yourself on HealthCare.gov at the same prices. The partnership is a service, not a discount.
Start with your subsidy
Gig income is often in the range where marketplace subsidies are largest. Check what you qualify for before anything else. Be careful estimating annual income if your hours vary, because the subsidy is reconciled at tax time and an overestimate of your earnings leaves money on the table while an underestimate has to be repaid.
Accident cover is worth a thought
Driving and delivery carry real physical risk, and a standalone accident plan runs about $50 a month for an individual. It pays fixed amounts toward injuries, x-rays and ambulance transport. It is supplemental and does not replace medical coverage, but as an add-on to a high-deductible plan it covers a gap that gig work makes more likely.
If the marketplace does not work out
Flat-priced group plans start at $269 a month and are available outside open enrollment, which matters when you decide in June that you need coverage. Read the twelve-month term before enrolling.