£3,000 price of being ill and self-employed
Self employed people are amongst the hardest hit when it comes to the financial impact of being in hospital according to a report.
The report, published by Medicash, examined the true costs of illness and surveyed 400 people from across the UK who had all recently been in hospital or were undergoing regular outpatient treatment. The findings revealed that, on average, a self employed person loses over £3,000 in income when they are unable to work as a result of illness and a third of this group reported loss of earnings of more than £5,000.
It is estimated that there are over 3 million people in the UK that are self-employed but only 28% of self employed people have any kind of insurance in place to cover illness.
Medicash Chief Executive Sue Weir said: "Self employed people are particularly vulnerable if they are diagnosed with an illness and it's worrying that so few have any sort of plan in place. Many people simply don't take the time to think about how they would cope financially if they were unable to work and if this happens it can cause considerable strain for both individuals and their families.
"People without cover can be hit hard. We want to encourage people to plan ahead so that, in the event of illness, they can have peace of mind."
The research was conducted by The Murray Consultancy, an independent market research company.
First reported by http://www.the-bottomline.co.uk
Whether you believe the cost of not, it does raise the issue of how well we cater for such events....
Does anyone invest in suitable insurance cover for themselves or their guys ?
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Who'd be self employed!! Just another of those 'revelation' announcements that we are all too aware of, but do little about it. Our love of the game is often our weakness and financial planning is neglected in our busy, busy, season chasing lives.
Public sector employment is the way to go. More paid holiday, almost unlimited sick pay, early retirement with a pension none of us could possibly afford and if you are ‘unlucky’ enough to be made redundant, a rather nice financial package often lightens the load.
But WE are different – strangely NONE of the above is counted as a priority! We can be thankful that we wake up in the morning looking forward to the day, the month, the years ahead. We do not relish the time when we will have to wind down and eventually retire. Too many in this world long for it - and become old well before their time.
However, insurance cover, along with a good pension policy should be one of our ‘best tools for the job’ and be given serious thought and action - once you have established that this is the life for you.