[foxglove]

Thanks Danjark. I posed your reply to my health insurance specialist. Here is his reply:

Max,

THIS IS POSSIBLE. Here is what needs to be done:

* incorporation or LLC with a federal tax ID number
* there must be at least two employees
* each employee must work 25 hours per week
* each employee must receive at least minimum wage (current Ohio minimum wage: $6.85 per hour)
* you must be able to document hours per week and payroll with a quarterly tax & wage statement that is submitted to ODJFS

Some insurance carriers are more lenient than others and do not require a tax and wage statement; however, they reserve the right to ask for one in the future.

Insurance carriers in Ohio tend to be cautious about two people groups.

I have placed two small groups like this in the last two years. One group was fine, the other was audited for payroll documents after one year and was then terminated when the group (an accountant group) could not produce the appropriate proof for wages being earned.

We can start the process as soon as I have your tax ID number and incorporation status.

End of Reply

To All;
We're out sailing and heading for Florida and Bahamas for the winter. I don't think that I could operate a business on board but in the spring I might try to build a speaking and writing business around my newly published book about how to stop smoking and make it stick.

Also, you are all correct that I jumped the gun with retirement. In 26 months, I'll be on Medicare and I'll only need to insure my wife. I wasn't forced to leave but for the past 42 years I have operated the heart lung machine. It was my job to keep the patient alive while the surgeon had the heart and lungs shut down for repairs. Heart surgery has declined in our hospital from 600 procedures per year to about 150. I was giving my few cases away to the younger perfusionists (that's our title) so they would stay sharp. As a result, I was not staying sharp and decided that I shouldn't put patients at risk just to keep my job so I retired before my time. I plan to work again in the spring but for now we're playing on the waterways.

The great thing about sailing (well one of many) is that we can offset the cost of COBRA or any other expense by spending more nights at anchor instead of marinas, fish, crab, and cook on board instead of seeking restaurants. Now if I could only get my shower to work, I wouldn't smell so bad.

Thanks again to Danjark for a brilliant idea.