You build, wire, weld, pipe, and pour for a living, and when you work for yourself there's no company benefits desk behind you. Your income tracks the job calendar and the season, the work is hard on the body, and getting hurt or sick doesn't wait for open enrollment. Here's how self-employed tradespeople get covered, why a health plan is a different animal from workers' comp, and how to match coverage to income that comes in project by project.
If you run your own trade — electrical, plumbing, HVAC, carpentry, concrete, framing, landscaping, or general contracting — you're self-employed, and the health coverage is yours to build. That independence is the point, but it means no group plan and nobody splitting the premium with you. This guide covers your real options, the workers'-comp confusion that leaves too many tradespeople exposed, how subsidies work on project-based income, and what changes once you're covering a crew and not just yourself.
A general contractor on a big commercial job might have benefits; the sub who rolls up with his own truck and tools usually doesn't. The moment you're a sole proprietor, single-member LLC, or 1099 sub, you carry the full premium yourself — and you get to shop the whole individual market instead of one company's plan. The trade-specific wrinkle is that your work is physical and your income is tied to the job pipeline, so both your health risk and your cash flow argue for setting coverage up on purpose rather than running bare "until things slow down."
This is the misunderstanding that burns the trades the most, so let's be blunt. Workers' compensation covers job-site injury and is a commercial-side product — often required once you have employees, and something a GC may ask a sub to carry. A personal health insurance plan covers your everyday medical life: illness, the doctor, the hospital, that back that's been talking to you for years. They are not interchangeable, and depending on your plan and state, an injury you'd assume comp handles may be treated differently under a personal health plan. When your body is how you earn, carrying the right mix matters. Health insurance is the personal-side piece I help with; talk to a commercial agent about comp.
Most trade owners choose among a handful of routes. None is the automatic pick — it comes down to your income, your family, and how you use care.
A stacked summer of jobs and a lean stretch in the off-season is normal in the trades, and it complicates the one number that drives a subsidy: your estimated annual household income. Premium tax credits are based on that estimate and your family size, not on having an employer, so plenty of trade owners qualify. What counts is your taxable net after materials, tools, the truck, and any subs you pay — not gross invoices. Build the estimate off last year's Schedule C rather than a big month. How subsidies work for variable self-employed income →
When it's you (and maybe your family), you're shopping the individual market. The day you put a couple of guys on payroll, a different door opens: small-group coverage. Whether to offer a plan is a real decision — it changes your costs, your hiring pitch, and your paperwork — and it's worth thinking through before you're forced to. If you're weighing it, start with the small business & group coverage guide.
The trap is going bare during a slow stretch and hoping nothing happens — a torn rotator cuff or an appendix doesn't check your job calendar first. There's an annual Open Enrollment Period, but you don't always have to wait for it: private under-65 plans can usually be applied for any time of year, and a qualifying life event — losing other coverage, a move, a household change — opens a Special Enrollment Period. Coverage that carries you through the quiet months is cheaper than the alternative.
Eligible self-employed tradespeople can generally deduct health, dental, and qualifying long-term-care premiums as an above-the-line federal deduction — up to net self-employment income, and typically not for any month you could have joined an employer or spouse's plan. For a sole proprietor or LLC filing a Schedule C, that can meaningfully lower the true cost of coverage. The rules have real conditions, so confirm how they apply to you with your CPA — nothing here is tax advice.
You can navigate this alone, but an independent broker compares across many insurers at once and matches a plan to how you actually earn and how you use care — not just the lowest sticker price. And it costs you nothing on top — the carriers pay the broker, so your premium is identical whether you use one or not. I'm licensed in 31 states, so if your work crosses state lines the help does too. For the broader how-to, see the self-employed & 1099 coverage guide.
Start with the coverage cost estimator to map the landscape, then book a quick consultation when you want a real person to run your exact numbers. No pressure, no cost to talk — and I'll work around your job hours.
Usually not. A general contractor on a large job may have benefits, but independent subs and trade owners are self-employed, so health coverage is something you arrange for yourself on the individual market.
No. Workers' comp covers job-site injury and is a commercial-side product, often required once you have employees. A personal health plan covers your everyday medical needs. They aren't interchangeable, and carrying the right mix matters when your body is how you earn.
Through the individual market — an ACA marketplace plan or a private under-65 plan. Seasonal income doesn't disqualify you; it just makes estimating your annual income for a subsidy more important. Basing the estimate on last year's Schedule C is usually most accurate.
Many trade owners do. Premium tax credits are based on estimated annual household income and family size. What matters is your taxable net after materials, tools, the truck, and subs, not gross invoices.
Once you have employees on payroll, small-group coverage becomes an option, and whether to offer a plan is a real decision that affects your costs, hiring, and paperwork. It's a separate track from covering just yourself — worth planning before you're forced into it.
Eligible self-employed tradespeople can generally deduct qualifying premiums as an above-the-line federal deduction, up to net self-employment income and not for months an employer or spouse's plan was available. Confirm the specifics with your CPA.
Usually, yes. If you're not in a union that provides a benefits fund and you don't have coverage through an employer, you're responsible for arranging your own — the same as any self-employed tradesperson. The main paths are a marketplace plan, which may be subsidy-eligible depending on your income, or a private under-65 plan. Tell me your trade and your state and I'll walk you through what fits.
Leaving a W-2 crew to run your own shop usually ends the employer coverage that came with the job, and that loss of coverage is typically a qualifying life event that opens a special enrollment window. From there, a newly self-employed tradesperson arranges coverage on the individual market, either an ACA marketplace plan, which may be subsidy-eligible depending on income, or a private under-65 plan. Lining this up as you make the jump helps you avoid a gap between the old benefits ending and the new plan starting.
Health insurance for an S-corp trade business is handled differently than for a sole proprietor, and the rules are specific to how the business is set up. In many cases an S-corp owner can still end up claiming a self-employed health insurance deduction, but exactly how it's structured depends on your situation. This isn't tax advice, so confirm the right treatment with your CPA or tax preparer.
Health coverage for a tradesperson runs on an annual policy, so a plan bought for the year stays in force through the slow season as long as premiums are paid, and coverage doesn't pause when the work does. Because subsidies are based on estimated annual income, many trade owners budget premiums across the whole year rather than dropping coverage in lean months and risking a gap. If a slow stretch changes your yearly income picture, you can update your marketplace income estimate so your subsidy reflects it.
The core how-to for independent workers of every kind.
Explore self-employed →Put guys on payroll? See small business & group options.
Small business coverage →See your coverage paths compared for your situation.
Open the estimator →Independent workers buying their own coverage, your situation too.
Explore contractor coverage →Fifteen minutes to talk through your trade, your family, and how you use care — then a clear, honest set of options.